Uncharted 3: Cassie's Honor
by The Alpha Gray Wolf
Summary: Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell are no longer amateurs. They've been on so many adventures that they've lost count. It's time for them to climb up the ladder in becoming legends and they are going to achieve this by looking for the Philosopher's Stone in a lost city somewhere in Europe while racing against time and an ancient cult. Time for the third installment of Cassie Drake.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: All credits go to the rightful owners, I only own the stuff that I made up.**

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**Cassie Drake: Archaeologist, daughter of Nathan Drake who uses her brains to solve puzzles.**

**Derek Lowell: Archaeologist and best friend of Cassie who relies more on sight.**

**Erkin Yura: Friend of Cassie and Derek and marine archeologist from Astana.**

**Joshua Hale: Friend of Cassie and Derek and pilot that frequently flies them.**

**Austin Harris: Leader of an extinct secret society bent reviving itself through wealth and immortality.**

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**Extended Summary**

**Cassie Drake, Derek Lowell, no longer amateur archaeologists, are working their way up the ladder in becoming legendary. The Philosopher's Stone is every crooked man's dream. A stone capable of granting immortality and turning any metal to gold is rumored to be hidden in a lost city somewhere in Europe and like always, Cassie and Derek are always up for an adventure.**

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_Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me, such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines. _

_Paracelsus_

June 6, 2030

La Mosquitia, Honduras

"Happy Birthday, Cassie," Derek Lowell exclaimed as he carried Cassie on his back. "Today, you are sixteen and you want to explore the jungle, searching for a lost city?"

Cassie jumped off of him and landed on the rough ground. "Why, of course." Her voice gave a clear indication that this is what she wanted as she wiped herself with her hands. "I mean, instead of forcing my Dad to get me another clown for my birthday, I want to do something special. I want to sneak off as early in the morning and go hunting for a lost city." She walks down a dirt hill, looking at her watch to make sure that it was still dawn in the Honduras time and her parents were asleep. She was even lucky Derek's parents brought him out here.

"And the fact that I even agreed with you," Derek began as he climbed down and followed her.

"And the fact that you agreed to come with tells you what?" Cassie asked, feigning offense.

"Nothing," he reassured her promisingly before he slipped and slid down the hill a few feet before catching himself. "I'm always game for a big adventure with you." He caught up to her as they reached a part of the hill that was able to be walked down instead of climbing down. He watched her pull out a gold-colored pocket-sized journal and flip through a few pages. "Remember when we went deep-sea diving in the Atlantic?"

Cassie looked up from her journal at him and nodded. "I sure do; now shut up so I can figure out what this code means." She holds the journal up for him to see. Strange hieroglyphs were written all over the journal page in multiple colors (blue, red, yellow, green). They did not form any type of words either of them had seen before, almost like they were forming shapes. This wasn't a drawing of Cassie, just something she copied that looked ancient enough to trace a map to which lead to their current location in the Honduras jungle with their parents still sleeping, scheduled to wake in four hours, just three miles away in houses made of wood.

The cryptic map they traced on the journal leads them up a steep hill made of dirt and pushing vines and leaves out the way. Cassie sat on the seat of her khaki pants with Derek sitting beside her with their backs to the rocky wall behind them. Derek looked out into the jungle while Cassie continued to study the cryptic shapes.

"Are you sure that cryptic map leads us here?" Derek failed to elude the trepidation in his voice. "I mean, I don't want to get lost in a jungle and swept up by rebels like in that movie, _The Rundown._"

Cassie chuckled slightly and playfully punched Derek in the shoulder. "Trust me, I can read the stars if we get lost." She looked up and saw it was dawn before continuing. "' Sides, I left a trail for us to follow back to our campgrounds. By my estimation, we left two hours ago and we have two hours until our parents wake up so if we want to get away with our crimes, we have to make this adventure as brief as possible."

The rocky wall behind them suddenly gave away and the two sixteen-year-olds went tumbling backward into the darkness with rocks from the wall hitting them as they rolled. The golden journal slipped from Cassie's fingers like butter and out of sight. Cassie and Derek collided when they both hit rock bottom only a few feet down, Cassie's knee slammed into Derek's gut with Derek's sneaker connecting to Cassie's jaw. Derek yelled in pain as predicted while Cassie burst to her knees to clutch her bleeding lip.

"Shit," Cassie cursed at the blood on her lip. She winces and licks the blood away to get the blood back in her body. "Taste like metallic shit as well." She took out her flashlight that she brought with her and shone a path in front of her just as Derek finally got up to his knees. She realized that her left hand was empty and gasps in horror. "The journal, where's the journal?!" She gets down to her arms and knees and digs her way into the ground like a prairie dog, terrified of what's become of the journal. Derek had to restrain her to calm her down over losing the journal. Because they've been best friends for six years, he was allowed to wrap his hands around her body and physically restrain her from getting more dirt in her nails. Once he realized that she was still hysterical, he tried another tactic by telling her that it was just a journal. "Trust me, it's just a journal that anybody can get." She throws the flashlight into the corner like a little girl and buries her face into her hands out of frustration. "And, luckily for us, Cassie, I have a photographic memory and I can literally paint a picture for you."

Cassie's eyes transported to Derek's in an instant, a smile crossed her face. She hugged him tightly after jumping to her feet. "Thank you so much, Derek. I swear, I owe you one you beautiful son of a bitch. I could kiss you right now!"

"First of all," Derek spoke calmly, "Why the hysteria over a lost journal?"

Cassie steps away from Derek to pick up the flashlight she threw. She shines it in Derek's direction with the beam hitting him in the chest. She sighed in exhaustion before explaining, "I just really wanted to figure out the secret behind this adventure. I mean, we come across a journal with weird hieroglyphs or whatever and we trace a cryptic map leading to this rock that we feel inside, and I just wanted to discover something big. Instead, I ended up losing the journal. Some birthday am I right?"

She half-expected him to laugh with all his strength, but he just laughed quietly and put a hand on her shoulder as a sign of reassurance and that there was nothing to worry about. "You really want to become a legend, don't you?"

"Of course I do, but I want to be my own legend. I don't want to be known as The Daughter of Nathan Drake. I want to be Cassie Drake, the legendary adventurer."

Derek nods before saying, "I want to be just like that as well. At least no one will recognize me via predecessor relatives." He nods towards the darkness behind Cassie. "What say we finish this adventure with me being the map?"

Without even missing a single beat, Cassie ran down the dark tunnel that the cave had to offer with Derek catching up.

It almost seemed like this cave was nothing more than a dead end. They have been searching throughout this cave relentlessly for the past thirty minutes and they still turned up nothing. They lost the journal so they were relying on Derek's photographic memory but since the journal only detailed them to their current location and not inside the cave, they were relying purely on instinct. As they walked through the cave, Derek reminded the rambunctious Cassie that if they found nothing in the next thirty minutes then they had to get the hell out of dodge and hightail it back to the campgrounds.

"I wish we brought Vicky," Cassie mentions offhandedly. "Vicky could always sniff out the good stuff."

"Not going to argue with you on that one," Derek replies. "Next time, we gotta bring her."

Cassie was about to say something else until her keen ears picked up on something. She stopped dead in her tracks and held up a fist to quietly signal Derek to stop. Not a single one said a word for the longest time, each listening to nothing but the sound of water dripping, or so they thought that was water dripping. Cassie leaned in closer to get a better hearing and she now identified that water drop sounds as shovels smashing into the ground.

Someone else was in the cave with them.

She crouches down and turns off the flashlight. Derek, being the gentleman, sneaks forward a few feet, hands blindly reaching out for whatever was in front of him. He gripped at the rock wall and followed with Cassie clinging one hand to his belt.

They blindly made it to where the rocky wall curved and led into a junction. Derek leaned his head out to get a better view, using his left eye to see. His night vision was starting to turn on and he could barely tell from the darkness, there were three silhouettes and one raised a shovel-like object over its head and swung into the ground, creating an ear-piercing screech, louder than before. Derek winced and motioned for Cassie to get back.

Cassie inwardly shook her head no and moved beside Derek, pressing her chin to his left shoulder so she could see what he was seeing.

The three silhouettes crouched down and the one in the middle picked something up and examined it. Cassie could tell it was rectangular and flat. She deduced that it must've been some kind of scroll or a piece of paper of some kind. Either way, the head of the silhouette in the middle was gazing down at the paper intensely while the other two silhouettes just stared blankly in opposite directions like they were guarding something.

_What the hell is going on here,_ Cassie thought to herself. She focused on her hearing because she could just barely hear a faint voice utter something in a monotone that resembled a cultist saying some kind of chant.

"_Poshuk oznachaye zhadibnist! Otrymannya Tse oznachaye zhyttya ʹ"_

Cassie could not tell what language they were speaking. For all she knew, they could've been aliens talking to each other in gibberish. She was multilingual, but she was very limited. She could only speak seven languages and that included English, Latin, Hawaiian, Spanish, Polynesian, German, and Arabic. To hear another language made her feel inferior and she scooted as close as she could to plant her body to the wall to see if she could hear something else come from this man or woman's mouth. Given how deep the voice was, it was a male.

He put the piece of paper down several feet away and closer to Cassie's position. She quickly snatched it from the rock it was lying upon and inches herself away but she made a mistake. Her shoe accidentally kicked a rock and it caught the attention of the three shadowy figures. One of them was growling out of their wits while the other two stayed as silent as possible. They stared in Cassie's direction and she hid behind the wall with Derek and they slowly got the hell out of there.

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**It's here, the third installment of Cassie Drake's adventures. Please tell me what you think so far, review, follow, and favorite the story. And, as always, have a great adventure with this story.**


	2. Prologue Part 2

Cassie and Derek were almost out of there, without even using the light to guide them, and then that's when they heard the footsteps of someone else approach them in front and stop just seconds after being heard. Cassie and Derek freeze in place in more time, their eyes adjusting to the darkness so they could see a large shadowy figure in front of them. Cassie and Derek's heads crane up in unison to see the ugliest face in the dark state down at them. Cassie shines the light in the figure's face and she saw a large head with yellow teeth, black eyes, thick eyebrows, and the palest of skin she has ever seen before.

Derek picked up a large rock and struck the large figure in the groin area. The large figure folds over and collapses to his knees in agony. Cassie and Derek then dart for the exit, clawing their way up the hill they rolled down when they spontaneously found their way into this cave. Once they were back on the outside, they gasped for fresh air and made a run for it as fast as they could.

They stopped near a tree about twenty-five meters away from where they fell in and they caught their breaths.

"Man," Cassie croaked as she grabbed her knees and hunched over. "We need to get in shape, Derek."

Derek sat down near a tree and pulled out a canteen from his pocket and took a large gulp before passing it to his friend. "Speak for yourself, but as soon as we get the hell out of here, we are going to do more than just climbing rocks."

Cassie took a drink before tossing the canteen back. "Some birthday if I get caught by a giant guy," she chuckled slightly. "Maybe, it was all supposed to happen."

The bushes were rustling in the direction that they just came from which immediately startled the two. They hightailed it out of their once again. They retraced their steps back to the campgrounds until Cassie had an epiphany. She called out to her friend, "We can't lead him back to the camp!"

"Course," he agreed without even hesitating because they already shared half a brain. "We don't need him sneaking into our tents at night.'

"Actually," she paused, "I was thinking I don't want to get in trouble on my birthday so we have to try and lose him!"

Cassie and Derek sprinted as fast as they could in the opposite direction of the campgrounds but they were both exhausted by the time they slowed to a stop and rested near a bridge over a ravine. Neither one recognized this old rotted wooden bridge. Derek spotted the ropes holding the bridge to be slowly rotting off and if they were to cross without paying proper attention, they then would fall to their deaths. "Great," he complained, "Now we have to cross a bridge that could fall at any second."

Cassie already started crossing the bridge and stopped only to persuade Derek, "Cross or toss."

"That doesn't even make sense but alright."

Cassie was running across the bridge with Derek the following suit. She had gotten too careless with her running and because nobody was perfect, her foot broke a wooden plank she stomped on and she fell through. Derek dived forward and grabbed her before she could fall thousands of feet to her death. He pulled her up with both hands and checked to make sure that she was alright.

"Are you okay?" Derek worried, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Cassie said nonchalantly as if it didn't affect her but deep down, she was terrified for her life. She looked over the ropes on the bridge and slightly gasped at how far she would've fallen had Derek not saved her life. "Thank you."

Then the ugly guy from the cave started chasing after them on the bridge, "Come back here!"

The two teens looked behind them and burst into the sprinting mode, uncaring if they should've slowed down to avoid breaking any more planks. Just as they were fifteen feet from the bridge, the bridge broke in half at the midway point and all three parties went falling. Cassie and Derek grabbed the wooden planks and held on for dear life went the dangling bridge hit the rocky wall. The ugly guy chasing after them did the same thing except on the opposite side. All three parties started climbing up the bridge like ladders.

"Climb up," Derek ordered below Cassie, "These wooden bridges can't support our weight."

"Tell me something I don't know, like what's the square root of seven?" She was being sarcastic. Cassie gripped one more wooden plank above her and she lost her grip and fell. Derek caught her with one hand and swung her over to the rocky wall. She grabs a handhold and starts climbing up the wall like a monkey.

"It's Drake time," she laughs to herself as she climbs up the rock wall with no safety equipment, using nothing but her wits. Derek follows her but unlike her, his climbing skills were still in the beginning phase.

"Come on," she urged. She grabbed a handhold, which abruptly broke but she was able to grab another handhold in time. "If what my Dad says is true, then I should have a habit of breaking things any time now."

"If it runs in the family," Derek began, "Should I be underneath you?"

"That's what she said," she laughed before she lost her grip again, only to regain it. "Nobody saw that."

"I did."

Cassie reached the top and she helped Derek up. She nearly lost her footing slipping on dirty but Derek caught her before she fell on the seat of her pants. "Man, you're just a hero today."

"Only because you're clumsy today."

The two of them laugh at each other's statements before looking on the opposite side of the canyon they just crossed. The ugly man was still there and he flipped off the two before they did the same back at him.

The ugly man turned his back to the two and he used his earpiece. "533301 to Leader, I have failed to obtain the Tatter. I repeat, 533301 has failed to obtain the Tatter. I lost it to two young kids." He was then asked if he acquired visual contact with the cultists in the cave. "Negative but I will go back for a recon. What about the two kids?" He answered. "Understood."

Cassie and Derek walked back to the camp with Cassie reading off the piece of paper in her hand. She noted the colors matched the colors that were in the journal. Red, Blue, yellow, green. "Same symbols, what could these possibly mean?"

Derek took a look and said aloud what he observed. "Three symbols of the three primes. Red is mercury, blue is salt, and yellow is sulfur."

She looks up at him with wonder. She always knew that his love for archaeology was on par with her but instead of her focusing on myths, he started with pseudoscience. While Cassie was a big fan of the supernatural (kinda), he was more into things that are superhuman or super in some way. So alchemy was right up his alley. "Look at you, putting on your big-boy panties." She handed him the piece of the paper so he could examine them further. "If these symbols are mercury, salt, and sulfur, then what is the fourth symbol."

He takes the piece of paper and examines it himself. He brings the piece of paper up to his face like he was near-sighted and exerted his mind to look through his memories for whatever category this symbol could fit into. "Sorry, Cass. Nothing in my mind can recognize this symbol."

"A star with a big ring around it. You sure you've got nothing on it?"

"I'm more than sure," he promised. "But I can study this more once we get back home to Hawaii."

"If you say so."

They spent about an hour walking home and while they were walking, they were chatting with each other.

"I know it seems kinda awkward but I can't handle quiet for too long," Cassie said. "I require a conversation for whatever reason to prevent myself from going crazy."

Derek nodded in understanding, "I feel ya, Cass."

She smirked, "Just like you felt me up in the cave?"

Derek's eyes widened and the blushing heated up his cheeks. He stuttered on what he was doing, trying to explain himself but Cassie laughed at him.

"Don't worry, D-Man, you're my friend and I was getting hysterical." She pats him on the back, "Get your erection in your pants." Derek subconsciously covered his crotch area with the paper. "It's nothing, you just owe me one birthday present."

He holds up the paper, "Shouldn't this be counted as your birthday present?"

"I found it and stole it from a gang of graverobbers." She suddenly remembered. "You remember Rick?"

Rick was the name of a graverobber that they encountered one year ago exactly. The two were racing and they came across Rick digging up an ancient tablet of Polynesian origin and after a brief confrontation, he handed it over to them for free, saying it was an honor to meet the daughter of his idol. To both of them, Ricky was something of an idol to them because he was the very first treasure hunter (sort to speak) that they came across and he handed them a tablet that gave them something to look forward to solving.

"How could I forget?"

"I was just thinking of him. It's been far too long since we went on an adventure and here we are, in Honduras on my birthday and we're sneaking away from our parents to look for a lost city or something else hopefully. You know, the more adventures we go on, the more it will benefit us when we go to college."

"What college were you thinking?"

"Whatever the best college is for archaeology."

"So the University of Hawaii in Maui? It was declared the best school for archaeologists just last year."

"Looks like I'm going there. I should have a backup plan just in case."

"I already have my backup plans just in case." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out two papers that have been folded and unfolded one to read. "University of Chicago, New York University, Boston University, Oxford, and UCL."

She legit could not believe that he already had a backup plan; she barely had any plans for when she got out of high school. Sure she wanted to be an archaeologist against her parents' wishes (to hell with them) but she had no grand plan. Just go to school, study to be an archaeologist and search for lost cities. She would've searched for El Dorado, Shambhala, Iram of the Pillars, and Libertalia but her parents stole that honor from her so she had to think bigger.

When they arrived back, it turns out their parents woke up ahead of schedule and deduced that Cassie and Derek ran off into the jungle. Derek was scolded by his mother because she wears the pants in family (due to being former military) while Cassie was lectured on what is dangerous out there in the real world and she even theorized that this 'what's good and bad' lecture speech was a subtle attempt to get her not to become an archaeologist.

_Like hell I'm going to be a history teacher._

Derek was giving a few soft slaps on his wrists while Cassie was left embarrassed. The good thing was just them and their parents. Like a girl in trouble, she was standing in the corner of the camp and Derek came over to comfort her.

"Sorry, you got in trouble with your parents." Cassie acknowledged to Derek by saying:

"It was nothing. If anything, I loved the rebellion. And sides." She pulls out the paper from her back pocket, which she hid from her parents, deeming that since she found it, it is hers by right. "The ends justify the means."


	3. Fastforward

_Cassie pushed her eyes open and slapped the sleep out of her eyes as she looked ahead of her to see Harris sitting at a table across from her. She looked down at her hands and realized that her own hands weren't tied so there was something good out of being captured in public. She scanned around her environment once again and saw that she was seated in front of a coffee shop and people were sitting at other tables speaking in their native language while she was sitting in front of her enemy at this moment. "Hi," Harris waived nonchalantly. Cassie looked over to her right to see Derek sitting in a chair beside her, neither one were bound or gagged. He shrugs as he spots the other two villains, Pavel and Marcel, sitting at a table adjunct to theirs. It was better to not make a scene because these guys obviously owned the police and could easily just out them as fugitives so the best thing to do would be to appeal the occult society._

"_Why'd I have to wake up? I was having a good nap," Cassie quips as she playfully elbows Derek in the arm._

"_Sorry for the inconvenience, but we needed you guys awake. Anyway, we've been thinking and reading," he pulls out a journal from his back pocket, Cassie's journal that he stole while she was sleeping, and opened it. "It is a beautiful story that you have written in this journal, Cassie. I mean, all the legendary alchemists coming together to create the Philosopher's Stone, only to hide it in a lost city. You really have done your homework, Cassie."_

_Cassie mentally groaned over her stolen journal. "Well, that's how I got into college in the first place and how I graduate in a couple of months."_

"_Despite," Harris began, "Despite reading your book over a dozen times, I am still confused as to where the actual location of Ys resides. Can you help me out here? I can easily just hypnotize you into giving me information but I follow a very strict code."_

"_Honor among thieves, really?" She looks at the coffee cups that Pavel and Marcel place down in front of them. She was not tempted and ignored their polite gestures. "My father is the one who knows all about honor among thieves."_

"_I don't care who you are, Cassie," Harris rebutted. "The only thing I want from you guys is your cooperation." He leans over the table and hisses at her, "Where is Ys. Tell me where it is?"_

"_Calm down, Mr. Hisser, don't you know it's called a lost city for a reason?" She looks to see Marcel rising from his seat and moving over to behind Cassie and puts his hands on her shoulders. She could put up with a lot of things, torture, being shot at, beat up, but a villain physically putting their hands on her was where she drew the line in the sand. "Take your hands off me or else you will have to hypnotize yourself to block out the agony that I will bring to you."_

"_You think you're such a fighter," Marcel smirks but he appeals to her request._

"_Cassie," Harris began again, "I don't care who you are or what you are, I only dream of finding the Philosopher's Stone. It's been my group's lifelong goal and many leaders before me have perished and no one but you has come this far to discovering the one stone that turns all kinds of metal into gold while granting the user the ability to live indefinitely."_

"_One thing you need to get through your skull, Harris, is that the stone only grants you the ability to live longer, not make you immortal. You can still die like any other human. 'Sides, you have an entire cult, now you need to steal somebody bigger than you?"_

"_This isn't about money or power, Cassie. I have all that in my little cult society. My motive is principal and respect."_

"_Well, our motive is the thrill of adventure, but we also know that if something is lost, then it is lost for a reason. Call it our job to make sure that myths stay myths."_

"_If that's what you want to call your job. I know nothing about you other than your name or your occupations and I don't care about your motives. I only value respect and what's right."_

"_Well, what's right is not looking for a powerful object out of respect or principal. At least you're original; I've encountered some pretty selfish villains over the years. A teenager with issues against the government, Neo-Nazi wannabes, an arrogant black market trafficker, a guardian who doesn't talk, and even a global terrorist group who think the world is unlivable. Derek here even met a Genghis Khan copycat when he was in the Gobi."_

"_Interesting tales," Harris rolled his eyes, "But I'm not a villain. I only want your cooperation and if you don't cooperate, then I will bring discomfort upon you."_

_Pavel walks over to Harris and whispers something into his ear. Harris's face lit up with excitement. "Excellent," he turns to Cassie to explain, "It looks like your friends, Johsua and Erkin, are in possession of a page torn out of this journal and we have them in our sights and we already have acolytes on their way."_

_Cassie winces and looks at Pavel. Derek looks over his shoulder at Marcel and growls at him like a predator. "Cass," Derek calls out._

"_What's up, D-Man?"_

"_I heard there's a better coffee shop on the other side of town."_

_She nodded, understanding what he was cryptically implying. "Good idea, I'll race you there."_

_Cassie and Derek both flip the tables over and shove away Marcel and make a run for it across the street and into an alleyway but Marcel and Pavel were in hot pursuit and chased after them, it was literally a reenactment of Cassie's father experience in Yemen._


	4. The Price of Ditching

February 2037

Maui, Hawaii

"Wake up," someone shouted in a blurred voice. Cassie groaned and stirred as she finally came to her senses and opened up her left eyelid. "Cassie, it's time to get up. Professor Harvey is expecting us."

Once Cassie realized that it was Derek talking to her, she instantly found the strength to wake up and push herself out of bed. She wasted no time in stretching and limber to loosen all her muscles. Derek stands at the open door and looks at Cassie impatiently. "Let's go, we have work to do," he urged.

"Keep your panties on," Cassie said. "Can't a girl go at her own pace?" She grabs her backpack and lugs it onto her back. She follows Derek and closes the door to her college dorm behind her.

Six years, that's how long Cassie Drake has been attending the University of Hawaii in Maui. It was declared the best place for an archaeology major a few years back and she was lucky that her hometown truly was in Maui, Hawaii. The state of Hawaii was beautiful. She loves everything about it. The perfect weather, the tropical fruit, treasure hunting rate's up to twenty percent. There was nothing that couldn't be perfect about it. Except for her parents, however.

It wasn't that Cassie didn't love her parents, Elena and Nathan Drake. They did a wonderful job raising her and caging her to not be a dangerous archaeologist. She remembers when they first told her about their previous 'expeditions' before the documentaries started airing, they lied in their support of her becoming an archaeologist.

That beautiful day of learning who her parents were for the first time quickly took a turn for the worst when Cassie saw right through their lies. It only made her want to become a treasure hunter even more.

Derek Lowell was the love of Cassie Drake's life. He was perfect in every way possible. He had curly brown hair, a six-pack, fair skin, hazel-brown eyes, taller than her by a few inches, but she was in love. She was so in love with him that he was the only person that she felt comfortable taking her clothes off in front of. She wasn't perverted or anything but it could've been out of amusement but Cassie thinks how whenever she takes off her clothes in front of him, he passes out. They've never had sex before but Cassie was still a virgin and she hoped that Derek would be her first.

_Ew...what is wrong with you, Cassie Drake. What made you come up with these kinky thoughts?_

Cassie and Derek took their seats in the middle of the auditorium, here their longtime professor, Professor Harvey, gave his lecture on the subject of alchemy.

"What is alchemy?" he asked up on stage to the three hundred students seated in the auditorium. He had the projector lit up behind him showcasing a photo of Nicolas Flamel. "Someone, answer."

Cassie raises her hand.

"Besides Cassie."

_Looks like I'm too smart to answer questions._

One kid three rows ahead of Cassie raised his hand. "It's the branch of chemistry that turns gold into metal."

Harvey tilted his head as if he was trying to decide whether to accept that question. "I guess I can work with that. That is what alchemy is universally known as but there is so much to it than that. How many people here have heard of Nicolas Flamel?"

Cassie raises her hands again.

"Besides Cassie."

_You must hate me today._

Derek raised his hand. "And besides Derek as well."

_Maybe we're too cool for school._

"Just ignore him, Cassie," Derek said. "We're too cool for school."

"That's what I was thinking," Cassie replied.

"Nicolas Flamel created the Philosopher's stone," another kid answered after Harvey called on him.

"That's right," Harvey said. "Or so we think." He switched to a different slide which showcased a picture of a red rock that looked like a ruby. "We all know the story of the Philosopher's stone, don't we?"

_This was how we were going to spend our hour,_ Cassie though. _Listening to our old teacher who let us skip a few years to graduate early? This is going to be dull._

"Cassie," Derek whispered as he leaned in so she could hear. "Do you want to leave?"

Cassie looked to her right then her left sarcastically, as if she was looking for someone else named Cassie. "You're talking about me? Cute Colorful Cassie?" She tilted her head when Derek nodded. She looked back at the teacher as he was going more in-depth with his analysis with the Philosopher's stone. "I would love nothing more than to get the freak out of here," she whispers.

"Then let's get out of here," he almost urged impulsively and impatiently.

Cassie looked around to make sure that the coast was clear as she cleared out of her seat and walked in a crouching position around the aisle. The students sitting in the aisle looked over at Cassie as she crawled their way. Once she made it to the end of the aisle with Derek following close behind, she looked out to see Professor Harvey turning his back to the class.

They took the moment to quietly walk up the steps to the doors of the auditorium. Freedom was just a push away until….

"Miss Drake, Mister Lowell…"

Cassie and Derek froze like they had guns pointed at their backs (and they have in their experience). Subconsciously without thinking, they raise their hands and turn to the teacher.

"We weren't leaving teacher," Cassie said. "We were chasing a ghost," she said as a poor excuse. Some students managed to laugh. "They don't call this Auditorium of Death because the professors bore us to death." Most students started laughing now. "I'm sure you can forgive us."

"I thought the two of you were treasure hunters, not ghost hunters," Professor Harvey rebutted. "Don't tell me this is just a stage of transgression."

"I was never a boy, to begin with."

The students laugh again. Derek pats Cassie on the back.

"I'm glad you find this funny because if you so much as leave this auditorium in the middle of my lesson, I will fail you in Alchemy. I don't care if the press comes knocking on the auditorium door because you and Derek found and destroyed a couple of lost cities."

"Derek found the Peaches of Immortality, just to let you know." She looked at one student and nodded.

"And we found Atlantis," Derek added.

"And I found the Easter Bunny," Prof. Harvey said. "Back in your seats or you'll be failing alchemy."

Cassie and Derek were going to comply until they were suddenly stopped when Prof. Harvey raised his hand. "However, I will give you a free pass if you can come up onto the auditorium and explain the history behind the Philosopher's stone. The reward, you'll be excused from all of my classes for the rest of the day, but I will need to speak with you in my office."

Such a big ask. _Such a big 'ass' indeed._ "I do not get stage fright," she said confidently. "Come on my strawberry lover." _Derek does love strawberries._

She hops on stage, Derek climbing with her and they both turn to wave at the hundred-something students staring at Cassie. Some stared at her with happiness while others stared at her with envy. The envy stares reminded Cassie of Peyton Piers, a sociopathic bully from her early days at college who became the main antagonist of her Hawaiki adventure on Easter Island. He was also the very first person she's killed.

"Well, there is no clear story of the great Philosopher's stone," Cassie announced like she was talking in front of a stadium. "There have always been reimaginings of ancient legends, retells of ancient legends, hell, even different names of the legend. Iram of the Pillars, aside from its name, was also called Ubar, The City of Brass, Atlantis of the Sands. Shambhala could also be called Shangri-La and El Dorado could be referred to as a lost city of gold or merely a cursed statue. It's no different from the Philosopher's stone except it always has one name. It's none by nothing else other than its name and the power it possesses. Gold has always been mankind's most greedy dream and people stop at nothing to obtain gold. The Philosopher's stone was every greedy man's dream. For the old people who wanted to live forever, it was immortality that kept them asleep, not wanting to wake from a dream of never dying."

Derek spoke up. "If old people desired immortality, then the Philosopher's stone was right for them. Combined, the Philosopher's stone could very well be a supernatural nuclear bomb without the blast."

Cassie spoke again. "If you want facts from legends, there are none with eh stone. All that is known about the Philosopher's stone is that it can grant the wielder immortality while also turning any kind of metal into gold or silver. Like Derek said, a supernatural nuclear bomb without the blast."

"No legends are saying where the stone is. The stone could've been staff for all we know. A staff about my height with a piece of rock taped on the end. But most of the stories say that Nicolas Flamel, a legendary alchemist, once he mastered the art of alchemy, he decided to shoot for the stars and create something that men can only dream of."

"They say that Nicolas Flamel and his wife created the Philosopher's stone from chemical elements like mercy or even a mythical element that we know as carmot. They say that Nicolas and his wife created so much gold that the Midas story from Greek mythology was practically plagiarism. But the thing with being surrounded by gold for so long is, it's not a real condition, only psychological, they say that they went mad with wealth. Everything they did had to be about them and the gold and when they realized that they didn't want anyone else sharing this power, they used a wizardry spell to cast the stone out across the world and land something in a city hidden in plain sight." Cassie slowed her speech down and drew a smile on her face. She felt proud of herself like she accomplished something on this stage: Getting over her fear of talking in front of a lot of judgemental snot-nosed punk college kids.

Prof. Harvey, who had been standing by their side, crossed his arms and nodded his head. "That was a very impressive speech you two," he said with a nod. "You two have done your homework even before I handed out homework. You two practically don't need college. But, you did pay tuition so everybody's gotta keep what they bought until they graduate."

"Can we leave now?" Cassie asked.

"We still need to meet with him after class," Derek mentioned. "Remember?"

Cassie remembered and mentally groaned in her head. "That's right, what do we need to see you in your office for?"

"A private conversation," he said casually. "It concerns only you two. I was going to call you two before you walked out of class but seeing as to how you were already going to vacate, I decided to let you go but not without giving me something in return."

"If it was the pleasure of embarrassing your two students, then you're welcome," Cassie groaned.

Cassie and Derek were finally allowed to leave the auditorium and they spent the next forty-five minutes of their well-deserved and earned time exploring what college looked like when class was in session. They cracked a few jokes here and there but when the time came for them to go back, they headed straight to Prof. Harvey's office.


	5. Voynich Manuscript

The Museum of Natural History.

Cassie and Derek had tottered off to the Museum of Natural History. It was not the first time they had been to this museum, but Cassie had some flashbacks back at this museum. Just standing in this museum made her grateful that Derek was there to save her from….

It didn't matter anyway, that was five years ago.

The adventurous duo walked into the museum with their heads held high and eager meters dialed up to eleven. They knew the curator of this museum would always give updates on the museum because Cassie and Derek were usually the ones who brought him valuables to put in the museum.

Cassie and Derek moved towards the museum, admiring the skeletons on display and even some of the artifacts that they brought to the museum with them. They even spotted Maui's fish hook from their adventure on Mauna Kea a few years ago. That brought back some memories indeed.

Cassie looked at her watch. "We shouldn't stay out for too long," she said, "There is still some homework for us to do. Not like I give a rat's ass."

Derek chuckled. "I like you, Cassie. I do."

"I know, I like myself as well," she said with a chuckle. "Let's stay for another twenty minutes and then get back home for real."

"If you say so but I've been wanting to see the mammoths," Derek said.

Cassie and Derek did one more tour of the museum before they decided that it was time to head back. They turned towards the doors before they were suddenly stopped at the doors by the curator.

The curator was a short man with gray hair and dressed in a gray suit with a red tie. He looked to be in his early sixties and he always had a smile that only happy old people could pull off.

"Ms. Drake, Mr. Lowell," he said, "What an honor to see you guys again."

"Hello, Mr. Wayne," Cassie said. She grabbed his hand and shook it. "How's the museum displays?"

"Good as long as you keep bringing in artifacts," he answered.

"We're archaeologists," Derek said, "Not treasure hunters."

"Even so," Wayne said, "I was hoping you guys would arrive; I was just about to call Prof. Harvey to excuse you guys from school. A couple of my archaeologists found something that could be right up your guys' allies."

Cassie and Derek looked at each other with a wink and smile. Cassie turned back and said, "Well, we're always open to adventures. I mean, our last one involved us heading to Egypt to look for the lost tomb of Cleopatra. We barely escaped with our lives and we became enemy number one of a global terrorist organization."

"Even so," Wayne said and shrugged, "I'm sure you'll find some excuse either way." He turned to walk away into the museum, "Follow me to my office," he said.

Cassie and Derek followed him to his small office. Wayne sat behind his small desk and Cassie sat in the only chair present in front of the desk. She would've let Derek take the chair first before he would refuse and say 'no, you take it, Cassie,' but that didn't happen. She didn't the chivalry she always liked from Derek so Derek was forced to sit in the corner.

"What's this thing up our allies?" Cassie asked. "I hope it's not drug dealers, I have a low tolerance when it comes to smack."

Wayne looked at her with a wide-eyed expression, like he was saying, _You do pot, can I have some?_

"Kidding," Cassie said. _I'm never trying smack again. Honor Sully's quitting of smoking cigars._

Wayne reached into his desk to pull out something and he presented it onto the desk. It was a book about six inches thick and a foot and a half long. There were a black cover and white pages with colorful lines consisting of blue, red, and green running vertically up and down the pages.

"What's this?" Cassie asked. "If that's a bible, I'm going Catholic."

Wayne shook his head. "No," he said, "When I said up your alley, I meant it." He pushed the book forward and smiled when he looked at Cassie. "Have a look inside for yourself."

_How could I resist looking at such a fat book?_

She takes the book and sets it in her lap. It was about as heavy as a bag of rocks but when she flipped the cover open, it was as light as a feather. "Better not be an instructions manual on how to make bacon," she said, "I don't like eating pigs."

"I like strawberries," Derek said with a slight shrug. "Just saying."

Cassie skimmed through the pages of the thick book. The scripture of the book was written in a language she did not know of. Cassie could speak, read, and write about twenty-nine different languages but there was not a single character on this page that she recognized. She likes Cassie the Clueless, unable to figure out how to solve puzzles with only four pieces. It was almost humiliating. How was she going to become a legend if she couldn't read a simple language?

"I wouldn't expect you to understand it," Wayne said, "Not a single person before has been able to decipher this text."

"And why is that?" she asked.

"Because, in the hundred years it's been found, no one has been able to decipher the Voynich Manuscript."

Like the first page, Cassie drew a blank. "What?" she gulped.

"He Voynich Manuscript," Wayne repeated, "It's stunned even the most brilliant of linguistics for years."

"What is it exactly?" she asked.

"No one knows what exactly other than the fact that it is just a simple book that is thick, fat, and bombarded with characters and letters of unknown origin. I figured that you wouldn't be able to decipher it."

"Then why did you show it to me in the first place? I study ancient bones, not ancient languages."

"I knew you wouldn't be able to decipher the script without this." He reached into his desk and pulled out a piece of cloth. It was tattered and gray and had some holes. "It was found by some of my archaeologists when they were excavating any pyramids in Honduras."

_Honduras, I took a trip to Honduras seven years ago on my birthday._ "What do you want me to do with this piece of cloth, use it to wash your car?"

Wayne chuckled. "No," he said, "This piece of cloth acts as a decipher which would aid you in figuring out the scripts for this manuscript." He hands her the cloth.

Cassie examines it and finds several symbols on the clot. The symbols that resembled the sun and moon and various others but she did not know exactly what it meant.

"Alchemy," Derek suddenly said. Cassie turned to him and looked at him with suspicion. "I've always been a fan of pseudoscience."

"Then you solve this," she said before shoving the cloth into his stomach as he stepped forward. He took the cloth and studied it with interest.

"Old, alchemy symbols," he said like he was listing things on a shopping list. "These do appear to be the same ones on that piece of paper we found seven years ago."

"Speaking of which," Wayne said. He reaches into his desk and pulls something else out.

_How deep is his desk?_ Cassie thought.

Wayne handed Derek the same piece of paper that the two of them brought to him when they came back to Honduras all those years ago. "I do appreciate all your contributions to the museum," he said, "We found this piece of cloth a few weeks ago but I wanted you guys to be the first to learn about it."

The two adventurers recognized the piece of paper. Derek took both the cloth and paper and held them together. They were almost an identical match but the fourth symbol with the star and ring around it remained a mystery.

"How is this supposed to help us decipher the Voynich Manuscript?" Derek asked Cassie.

Cassie put the book down before standing up. She grabbed the piece of cloth and noted the colors and on the cloth and the colors on the book. Something lights up in her mind and she quickly turns to a random page. Just as she thought, there were colors on the inside.

"It's color-coded," she said, "This page has a drawing of four red stars or suns and a big blue star or something on the top."

"But there are multiple colors, how will that work?" Derek asked.

"Unless we're supposed to mix the colors?" she suggested. "Maybe the Voynich Manuscript can only be unlocked when you read through the combined colors. It's as simple as reading a military script when you have the military alphabet next to you."

"What are we supposed to read it through?"

"I have a few clipboards of various colors," Wayne said.

"Good," Cassie said, "We'll need some. Are they seeing through?"

"Like water," he said. He gets up and heads out of the room. He returns with several clipboards in his hands with all colors imaginable. "Take all the time you need," he said as he set them down."

The duo didn't want to take up too much time because, in their line of work, too much time equals too much information.

Cassie picked up a red and blue clipboard and she held them together like she was piling paper on top of the paper. She held it up to the light to see through a magenta-colored vision before she held the magenta clipboard over the script.

Much to her amazement, words that she didn't know were written were now in her field of vision. The magenta-colored clipboard allowed Cassie to see a hidden script texture underneath the words written on the surface. It took her a while to adjust to the magenta-colored vision but it looked like the script structured appeared to have Latin based script styles and fonts. Luckily, Latin was Cassie's most advanced language. She could speak any kind of Latin, regardless of the century.

_Sic Parvis Magna after all._

"What can you read?" Derek asked.

"First of all, it's Latin," she said, "But from the looks of it, it seems to be a location with a name."

"Can you read it?"

"Of course I can, I'm no schoolboy." _I'm a schoolgirl._ "The location translates roughly as…' Rommee? And the name appears to translate as Hermes."

"Hermes," Derek said, "I didn't know alchemist had Hermes spreading their word."

"I'm pretty sure it's not Hermes from Greek mythology," she said, "A different Hermes."

"If you say."

Cassie took another look at the script to make sure that she read the writing. What did Romme mean and who Hermes was was a mystery. But it certainly piqued her interest evident by the mischievous smile that came across her face. She licked her lips before closing up the manuscript and turning back to the curator. "Can I take this book home to study?"

"Does a wasp sting on a Sunday?"

Cassie and Derek looked at each other, hoping the other would have the answer.

"Yes," Wayne said once he figured out that they didn't understand what he was saying. "Yes, it's practically your book."

"Thank you," Cassie said before she bowed to him like a student to a sensei. "We'll take care of it."

"If the Drake luck doesn't burn out the book," Derek said.

"Drakes have good luck," she said.

"Not when they drive," Derek said, thinking back to that incident in Cambodia a few years ago.

"That was a pure accident and you know it. Plus, we survived, didn't we?"


	6. Resilient

It had taken them about or so after class was officially over before they returned to their dorms to hang out after school. Cassie jumped onto her bouncy bed and started using the colored clipboards from the museum along with some that Derek borrowed from the library, each one consisting of a different color. Cassie deciphered the secret messages in the script and instructed Derek to copy them down in her pocket-sized journal.

"That's a dozen pages we just copied from," Derek says like he was whining, "How many pages to go?"

_The shit men pull just to get out of studying. _"Don't tell me you're impatient already," Cassie said, "We're barely scratching the surface on this thing." _And I mean literally._

"I think I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome," he said, "Not good for a painter like myself."

_Same for me, I'm a free-hands rock wall climber. _"Derek Lowell, an archaeologist by day, a painter by night," she said, "Cassie Drake, treasure hunter all the time."

"Can we at least review what we have so far? My hand needs a break."

Cassie arches her eyebrows, a mischievous smirk crosses her face. _Does your hand need a break from working? Really? I thought since you had more muscles in your right arm that you could work yourself all day._ "Okay, let's look over what we got."

Derek handed her the journal and Cassie looked over it. Derek took the manuscript and set it aside on the table before he listened for Cassie's reading like an interested child.

"Rommee, Hermes," she said, pronouncing each word like tasting a new brand of M&Ms. "Rommee and Hermes are the ones I need to decipher the most. This next one, I can figure out. This says 'Snake Made of Gold'. I have no idea what that means though."

"This is a scripture from the Voynich Manuscript," Derek said, "I wouldn't be surprised if it mentioned where Atlantis is."

"If you recall, we already found Atlantis when we were twenty."

"That and a Megalodon. How about, 'I wouldn't be surprised if it mentioned where wizards live'. Plus, are we sure that 'Rommee' doesn't translate as 'Rommel'?"

"I'm pretty sure," Cassie said with certainty, "It translates as Rommee. I don't know if it's a person, place, or thing, all I know is that it is a proper noun of some kind." _Wait a second, person, place, or thing? If Rommee is a place, where could it be?_ "Rome."

"Excuse me?" Derek said.

"Rome," she repeated. "I've been pronouncing it differently. It's Rome, not Rommel."

"You said 'Rom-"

"I know what I said and it was Rommel."

_Okay,_ Derek thinks, _Take the chickenshit way out. _"Rome was founded in 753 BCE, when could the manuscript have been written?"

Cassie thought for a second. "After 753 BCE if it mentions Rome in the title. I know that it is referring to Rome, Italy and not Rome, Indiana." She turned back to the journal and skimmed through it one more time. "But if this is talking about Rome, then what about Hermes? If they're referring to mythology then Hermes belongs to the Greeks, not the Romans."

"The Roman gods were created after the Greek Gods," Derek said, "Or maybe it's some kind of cross-mythology or something. Like maybe Hermes was the Roman God of trade instead of his Roman counterpart. Maybe he traded himself so he could be in Greek mythology."

_My father,_ Cassie thought, _Went on one adventure that heavily involved Greek mythology. _"We know from my father's Fourth Labyrinth adventure that some figures in the Greek myths were real people. The Minotaur, just a man who undergone a physical mutation."

"Even if Hermes from the Greek myth was a real man, what does he have to do with Rome?"

Cassie looked back into the journal and skimmed through it again. She flipped to several other pages before she stopped on one. It wasn't an image but it was a symbol drawn by her from the manuscript. A circle with a triangle in the center and a square in the triangle center and another circle in the square's center. "You're a big fan of pseudoscience, so answer this question: What does that symbol look like to you?"

Derek took the journal and held it up to his face. His eyes scanned over the symbol and his mind raced to find an answer. "I know this," he said, "That the symbol of Hermes Trismegistus."

_One of the few times I wish I was more of a science nerd._ "Who?"

"Hermes Trismegistus," he repeated, "He's a legendary alchemist. A wizard in a general sense."

"A wizard," Cassie said, "So the Hermes mentioned in the Voynich Manuscript is Hermes Tris-something."

"Yes," Derek nodded.

"Okay, so that debunks the Hermes god in Rome theory but what of Hermes Tri-Something in Rome?"

"He's an alchemist, a legendary one. Among others like Nicolas Flamel and his wife. They say that Nicolas Flamel created the Philosopher's stone."

Cassie thinks back to the lecture she was forced to give to ditch class. "Why do I have a feeling that Professor Harvey forced us to give a lecture of alchemy on purpose? The guy at the museum said that he was going to call to excuse us from Professor Harvey's class and here we are, talking about alchemists over an ancient script."

"Fate," Derek suggested, "Coincidence, most likely. Neither man could've possibly have known this was connected to alchemy until we figured it out right here.."

"In our case, coincidence is fate," she said, "They say fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. But in our case, fool us once, shame on us."

"We should practically make up a travel guide for hanging out with Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell_._"

"We're getting off-topic," Cassie snapped.

"Sorry," he apologized. "But yeah, I do not get that feeling that there's a connection between Prof. Harvey's lecture on alchemy and us finding the Philosopher's stone."

Cassie sighed and ran a hand through her blonde hair. "You know," she said softly, "With our luck, Derek, the Philosopher's Stone, the legendary substance or rock that turns metal to gold while granting the user immortality, just might be real after all. We've debunked so many hoaxes in the last couple of years that it's practically in our nature to call out bluff."

"So, does this mean that we're going on another adventure or something?" Derek asked. "I mean, to find the Philosopher's Stone or something? There doesn't seem to be a point because you and I are already immortal."

"We're humans," Cassie said, "Not supernatural. But then again, we have survived the direst situations so I guess we are supernatural to a degree."

"But genuine immortality?" Derek asked.

"No, deep down, we're just regular humans."

"Is this mythical object even worth the find?" he asked. "I mean, what's the point of living forever. You'll miss out on everything. Seeing your families in Heaven, reincarnation if you believe in that, or even outlive all humans until you're nothing but the last living person on a planet that is dying slowly due to the sun expanding."

"That was the longest speech you ever made, Derek," Casie said, "But you do have a valid point. There are some things in this life that you just have to give up." She sits up and takes the journal and puts it in her pocket. "I think this is one adventure we need to shelf away."

"I will miss the thrill," Derek said with sadness in his voice, "The thrill of the hunt, the danger."

"I think we can sit this one out," Cassie said. She patted him on the shoulder. "Besides, we deserve a break. We're going to be graduating later rather than sooner and we need to study rigorously." She turns to the table to retrieve the Voynich manuscript and clipboards. "I'm going to return these to the museum."

"You need me to go with?" Derek asked.

"No, you'll give me bad luck."

"I'm good luck, especially in that museum."

"That incident from five years ago is frowned upon by me so don't mention it." Without wasting too much time, she races down the hall.

She returns to the museum at around five o'clock in the afternoon. She spent several minutes in the car before she got out and took the script and clipboards with her. She made her way to Wayne's office and noticed that there was barely anyone in the museum. The security guards were nowhere in sight and the cameras didn't appear to be active. The parking lot was full but nobody inside the museum, just around the general area.

She knocked on Wayne's door.

"Mr. Wayne, it's Cassie again," she tapped against the door three times, "I just came to return this manuscript. You see, it's just not for us." The only answer she got back was an awkward silence. "Mr. Wayne?" She opened the door up slowly and took a peek inside. Mr. Wayne sat at his desk with a newspaper covering his head. "Got lost in the sports section, didn't ya?"

She steps in and closes the door behind.

Her whole body jerked to the left and the script fell out of her hands. She grunted as her shoulder slammed into the wall and she barely had enough time to dodge a punch. She moves away from the attacker and faces him with clenched fists.

"Ouch," the attacker in ski mask said with a female voice said, "That hurt."

"That's what happens when you punch a wall," Cassie said, "Try punching a punching bag next time."

"Like you?" the attacker hissed.

Cassie charges first and slams the female attacker into the wall. She delivers a punch to her temple. The attacker retaliates and kicks Cassie in the stomach. She shoves the girl off before kicking her in the jaw. Cassie falls onto a standing pile of papers that fly everywhere.

"Stings, doesn't it?" the attacker said. She turned her head and saw the manuscript on the ground. "I came here for one purpose. I dislike killing so I'm not going to kill you."

Cassie lunges for her. The attacker doves out of the way and snatches the book from the ground. She shoulders into the door and runs off. Cassie takes off after her.

"You want a book," Cassie shouted after her, "Go to Barnes & Noble."

The attacker ran up the stairs with Cassie hot on her heels. The attacker breaks off course and leaps off the railing onto another set of stairs. Cassie copies her. Both women pull themselves over and continue to run up the stairs.

"Please don't do this," the attacker begged, "I only want the manuscript."

_Of course, why are scripts of some kind stolen from this museum of me, Cassie Drake, is somehow caught in the crosshairs._ "I can't let that happen." _Where are the security guards? It's only five o'clock unless she took them out. If she took out the security guards, then the cameras must be disabled as well. Man, what a drag. A sad, painful, drag._

The attacker shoulders into another door and lands outside the front entrance. No civilian was in sight nor any security guards. She charged with all her might to get away from Cassie.

Cassie remained resilient, however.

"Just leave me alone," the attacker said, "I don't want to hurt you."

"You're quite different from the villains I met before," Cassie said.

"I'm not a villain, I'm just trying to get by."

"Stealing the manuscript with the information involved makes you a villain."

The attacker cut a corner and ran into the parking lot, jumping over the hood of cars in the process. "They paid me a lot of money; I got a son to look after!"

"Who's 'they'?" Cassie asked. She jumped over a small car but when she landed on the other side, an incoming car hit her in the hip. It slowed down barely so she remained unscathed but she fell to the ground and was shortchanged running time.

The attacker suddenly dives through the backseat of an open window to a black SUV with tinted windows. After she got her feet in, the car took off.

But Cassie remained resilient.

Cassie leaped onto the side of the car with the upper half of her body through the window. She grabs the attacker's legs and yanks. "Don't think you're getting away that easily."

"I warned you," she said to Cassie.

The passenger pulled out a gun and aimed it at Cassie. She gasped and ducked in time. She grabs the hand with the gun and twists the gun out of the hand, breaking a few finger bones in the process.

The gun falls to the floor and out of Cassie's reach. She wasn't concerned about the gun, just the fact that her hands were sweaty and her grip was slipping like she was trying to grip pull-up bars made of ice.

The attacker got an idea and she slammed the book into Cassie's face. The young adventurer lost her grip and fell back.

* * *

**I should thank the COVID-19 quarantine for forcing me to stay indoors and work on this fanfiction. Expect another chapter soon.**


	7. Slip

"Oh crap," Cassie shouted as she fell back. A few more inches and she would've been a Cassie Sandwich on the street rolling in at sixty miles but that didn't happen. She managed to get both hands around the large book in time before she lost her balance completely and was trying to tug the book away from the attacker. Both women kept a tight grip.

"Give up," Cassie said, "I'm a climber."

"Yeah," the attacker said, "Then why haven't you climbed inside?" She sacrificed one hand so she could reach for the gun on the floor and aim it at Cassie's head. "Last chance, surrender!"

"I'll surrender when Kobayashi eats three hundred hot dogs in one round," Cassie said. She sacrificed one hand to slap the gun away but didn't anticipate the driver with the broken fingers to intervene.

He reached over and assisted the attacker in yanking the book back. Even with a few broken fingers, he managed to have a grip as tight as a robot's around the book and with a 'heave-ho', they yanked the book out of Cassie's sweaty hands like a brick slipping between two bars of butter.

Cassie lost her grip on both her hands and feet. She falls back this time with no hope of climbing onto something. Her back connects hard with the ground and it took all her strength in her neck muscles to keep her hand up and not hit the ground from the impact.

She rolls forward and suddenly starts sliding down a slippery slope akin to that of a mudslide. It was a dizzy sight for her for at least ten seconds before she finally slowed down and laid on her stomach with her left cheek in a puddle of mud and a bruise on her shoulder.

"I think I landed on my keys," she said. The pain all over her body makes her wince and she tries her best not to cry like the four-year-old girl she wished she was. Muscle memory kicks in and she pushes herself up.

_Don't worry,_ she thought to herself, _This is nothing._

She looked at the trail of mud she left behind and realized that the vehicle she leaped on had driven into the jungle and she rolled down the hill. Had it been on a concrete road, she would've been dead. "Thank you, Makemake and Hawaiki." She steps up and groans at the mud that stained her shirt. "This is why I can't wear white."

The universe must've been testing her resilience because her right foot slipped and she fell. The only thing that saved her from another mudpie was her knee.

"Owch," she winced, "I'm never going on mudslides again, or become a female mud wrestler."

By the time she climbed up the hill, the vehicle was already long gone. The only logical thing to do was to call the police and report a break-in at the museum (again). She then made a call to Derek and he arrived in less than ten minutes.

Derek rolls down the driver's window for Cassie to stick her head in.

"How's Mr. Wayne?" she asked.

"He's good," Derek said, "A good old shot of tequila and animal tranquilizer took him on a real rollercoaster." He eyes her muddy clothes. "Kinda like the rollercoaster you went on."

"It was a fun one," Cassie said, "Can I sit in the front seat or would you like me to lay out plastic so I can sit in the back?"

Derek shook his head, "Don't be silly, just put plastic in the front seat."

"Haha," Cassie laughed, "Don't suppose you still got that plastic for when it rains in the back?"

"Always," he said before popping the trunk. Cassie retrieved a roll of plastic used for shower curtains and laid it out on the passenger seat before she climbed in.

Derek took her on a route back to the museum.

"Cassie," Derek said, "The Bringer of Danger, the Escaper with Luck."

"And Derek the Doofus Deadpan," Cassie retorted.

"What were you thinking?" Derek suddenly shouted, "Seriously, what were you thinking? Why would you jump onto the roof of a car being driven by a couple of villains?"

"First of all," Cassie held up a hand, "It was an SUV and I landed in the window, not on the roof."

"Did you even have a plan?"

"Yes," she said. _Not entirely._ "I did have a plan." _That didn't come to mind yet._ "I stop these people from stealing the Voynich Manuscript."

"Thank god," Derek groaned, "You did a real good job."

"It's not like they were playing it easy. You know, they just broke into the museum and swiped it from the curator before driving off. I had little time to jump in the window before the window closed." _Literally, headfirst._

"Okay," he said, "You had good intentions at least. But what was the plan once you did get the manuscript back? I'm pretty sure they weren't going to slow down ten miles an hour so you could get off."

_Duh._ "I had a plan for that too."

Derek looked at her with an expression that said 'how-could-you-do-this?'

_That look on his face, it's almost brotherly. Was he so scared that I might have actually died?_ "It doesn't matter anymore," she said before a thought hit her, "Sure, the villains got away with the Voynich Manuscript but we already have a journal full of data." She flashed him a smile.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Cassie reached into her back pocket, arching her back and causing the shower curtains to crinkle in response. She pulls out her pocket-sized journal. "Everything on the Voynich Manuscript is in this notebook."

Derek looked at her with a stunning look and mouth slightly open. He looked like he had forgotten how to breath and when he remembered, he also remembered that he was driving and his eyes weren't on the road. "I thought we got only a few pages worth of notes down."

"Yeah," Cassie said, "But I couldn't resist. Before I went into the museum, I copied everything down in the car before getting out. I had the clipboards and everything with me."

"So it was pointless to chase down the robbers."

_Ignorance, Derek. It's called 'ignorance'._ "Just because I copied everything from the manuscript into here doesn't mean the original manuscript is pointless. Since they got the original piece and I have everything decoded in my journal, we have a headstart on them."

"What are you talking about?"

Cassie looked at him with one eyebrow arched and a smirk written across her lips. Derek wasn't dumb.

"Another adventure," he said like a lay child not wanting to get out of bed, "I thought we were going to let this one go?"

"I thought so too," Cassie said, "But no rest for Cool Cassie and Dashing Derek, sadly."

"Is it really necessary?" he asked. "I mean, we have the whole thing decoded and they don't."

"If two regular human beings like us can decode the Voynich Manuscript and copy it all down in one journal, then the people who took this journal can as well. At least we have a headstart on them."

"We have no reason to go on this adventure."

"I at least owe it to Wayne," she said, "He got knocked out because the thieves wanted to steal the book. I have to make it up to him somehow and if people are willing to hire other people to do their dirty work, then they do have something up their sleeves."

"Please explain," Derek requested.

"The woman who I was chasing said they paid her a lot of money. Obviously, if they have enough money, they could've broken into the museum themselves or at the very least, bought the manuscript. But Wayne isn't a broker of ancient artifacts, he's a collector."

"This woman," Derek urged, "She said they paid her a lot of money?"

"Yes," Cassie said, "What I'm trying to say is a group of some kind paid this mother of a son to steal the Voynich Manuscript from the museum. Why they hired a woman, like a general hiring a mercenary or Stalin sending a spy: They don't want to be known to the public."

This was obviously a serious discussion because Derek pulled off to the side of the road.

Cassie continued. "These people knew the Voynich Manuscript would be at the museum but they hired a woman to do their dirty work. The only reason they would do something like that because this group doesn't want to be known to the public."

"Like the Illuminati or Hellfire Club?" Derek asked. "Like a secret society?"

"Exactly," she answered. She flipped through the pages of her journal before stopping. "When I was decoding this journal, I came across one section that intrigued me greatly." She read an excerpt from the journal.

_And so, if it would not be man who possessed the Philosopher's Stone, it would be Vita Longa._

('**Vita Longa' translates as 'Long Life'**)

"Vita Longa?" Derek repeated, "That's Latin for something, obviously."

"It doesn't matter what it's Latin for," she said, "In the manuscript, it is said that if man, meaning us, humans, don't possess the stone, then it would be Vita Longa. I know it may just sound like a name but on another page, Vita Longa was described in detail. It's a cult group that existed before the Philosopher's Stone existed. They have been living in Rome for years, their job was to maintain the glory that the country possessed. But as history would have it, Rome would become just another city in a country in Europe. They lived through all the iconic moments of Rome and now in modern times, they hunt for the existence of the Philosopher's Stone."

"Vita Longa translates as 'Long Life' in Latin," Derek said.

"Yes," Cassie said.

"So, your theory is that this cult group, Vita Longa, hired a woman to steal the manuscript from the museum because they didn't want to be caught on camera for any reason possible."

"Correct," Cassie said.

"Are we sure this isn't Overlord?"

Cassie considered this before shaking her head. "Overlord is not a secret society and they were founded ten years after I was born; we can rule them out as suspects."

"We've dealt with crazy villains before. A sociopathic teenager, a warlord, Neo-Nazis, an arms dealer, and a global terrorist group. If this cult group, Vita Longa, intends on stealing the Philosopher's Stone, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Immortality?" Cassie said. "Immeasurable wealth? Money is the root of all evil and put that together with the ability to have 'Vita Longa', it'll be chaos."

Derek sunk back into his seat with a sigh. "Just when I thought we could finally get a break, we now have an obligation to go one another adventure once again, and this time, against an ancient cult group."

"We seem to have a habit of attracting the scum of the earth," Cassie said.

"Cassie, this is going to be different, you know? Unlike Overlord or those other bad guys we faced over the years, these guys will be operating from the shadows and will likely not make their presence known unless they want their presence known. This means anybody could be this Vita Longa, assuming this is indeed the group that is the villain of our adventure."

"I understand what you're saying but this time, it's a race against time. We have to find the stone before Vita Longa does and make sure it never gets in their hands."

Derek pressed his foot on the gas and drove off.

"We have to get to Rome first," Cassie said, "And fast, no hassles."

Derek's eyes lit up but he kept them on the road. "I know somebody we can call."

Derek caught Cassie's attention like a fish caught in a hook. "Who?" she asked.

Derek looks at her with a smirk. Cassie's eyes lit up like a candle. "Brilliant idea, he'll fly us there for free."

* * *

**I'M BACK AND THE ADVENTURE RESUMES AFTER THIS TERRIBLE HIATUS**


	8. Rome

Rome, Italy

"What a plane ride," Cassie groaned like she stretched out of an umbilical sack for the first time. She arches her back and climbs out of the plane. She is dressed in an army green henley with green cargo pants and chukka boots.

"Fantastic," Derek groaned as he awoke from his slumber in the back of his small plane. He was wearing matching cargo pants and chukka boots but a blue colored henley with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows to show off his fairly average muscular forearms.

"Wait for me," a third person with a British accent spoke as he climbed out of the airplane and onto the runway with the two adventurers.

Cassie grabbed her bag and waited for the other two to catch up with her as she walked off the runway. She turned back to the third person. "Are you sure we can leave the airplane on the runway?"

"This is not the first time I've flown to Rome, Cassie," the third person said, "You can trust me."

"If you're a baseball then I trust you as far as I can throw you, Joshua Hale." Cassie chuckled. "And I have a fairly muscular arm."

Joshua Hale saluted like a soldier but kept a straight face.

Joshua Hale was a pilot extraordinaire whom Cassie met when on a trip to England with her parents around the age of nine or ten. Joshua Hale, despite being younger than Cassie by a year, was a highly skilled pilot, being trained by his father at the age of fifteen and his father was a skilled pilot in the Royal Air Force.

Unlike most of Cassie's friends, namely O'maria and Niko (Derek's cousin), Joshua Hale was not an archaeologist of any kind. He was simply a British stunt pilot with chestnut blond hair, icy blue eyes, and a perfectly tanned complexion. He was taller then Cassie (being five-seven) but shorter then Derek (being six-one).

Also, he lacked a sense of humor.

The three of them hurried off the runway.

The three of them quickly jumped onto the closest city bus and they rode it the way to Rome. Arriving in the city, they quickly departed and moved amongst a large crowd of people.

Someone bumped into Cassie's shoulder. _This is not the first time I've been in Rome,_ she thought, _But the Romans are ruder than I remember._

Not wanting to risk any more painful shoulder bumps, the three of them ducked into a restaurant that served food Italians were known for. Once they got their food and talked over what to do, they got a cab and hitched over to the Colosseum.

Then diverted away for four miles until they were at another large building of an ancient structure.

"You have got to be kidding me," Cassie said, "Of all the places, this is the Tomb of Hermes Tri-Something?"

"Trismegistus," Derek said, "Hermes Trismegistus."

"Whatever," Cassie said and rolled her eyes.

The Tomb of Hermes Trismegistus was a tall structure resembling the Lincoln Memorial with sixty or seventy steps going up with tall pillars in front of a building with nature overgrowing but humans had the audacity to trim the overgrowing plants as a way of making sure that nature does not go out of control.

_It can't be that obvious,_ Cassie thought, _How can the tomb of a legend be on display like a painting by Pablo Picasso? Wonder how many graverobbers try to sneak a peek into this three-thousand-year-old temple._

The corner of Cassie's eye caught a flash from a young photographer and she squinted. _I'm blind, help me!_ "Thanks for the temporary blindness."

"Are we just walking in?" Cassie asked.

"We can't," Joshua said, "They let nobody in, guards are instructed to shoot people should they attempt to put a toe in the tomb."

"So where does that leave us?"

"Breaking and entering?" Derek said, "I'm just saying, this is nothing new to us. How many times have we broken and entered into a restricted area to look for a lost city and/or ancient relic?"

Cassie had a flashback of when she broke into a Pakistani museum to steal ancient coins to aid her in her quest to find the Tomb of Antony and Cleopatra last year.

"These guards will shoot," Joshua said, "They aren't amateurs." He nods to the five guards standing as still as statues with assault rifles at their side. "Each one works full-time and is a skilled marksman with assault rifles. They change shifts every eight hours so in total, there are three teams of five. The morning, evening, and nighttime crew."

"How do you know all of this?" Derek asked.

"I have connections," he said, "My father was in the Royal Air Force, made a lot of friends. They are like uncles to me and we trust each other. My father's closest friend sent me job descriptions for careers involving the armed forces. He mentioned a crew standing twenty-four hours at a temple for an ancient alchemist in Italy. This is the crew he mentioned."

"That's good, we have inside information," Cassie said, "Now we can use that to our advantage. We got to find somewhere to sleep, get our bearings on what to do next because we can't afford to waste time."

The three of them hitched a taxi ride to the closest hotel where they checked in for two nights and with Cassie's currency from her previous adventure in Rome, she paid upfront for a suite with two beds (as that was all she could afford).

"Is it truly necessary that we break into a tomb with guards?" Joshua asked.

"Why are they guarding it in the first place?" Cassie asked, "Because someone doesn't want the public to look inside the tomb."

"That could be anybody," Derek said.

"No," she said, "Think about it: Mr. Wayne doesn't hire heavy arms to guard his museum and it's been robbed twice and in a short timespan. Maybe a temple doesn't compare to a museum but nevertheless, you never hire a group of private military contractors to guard something so old that it practically has hair growing out of the cracks."

"She's has a point," Derek said to Joshua, "Should it really matter, though; they're just guards."

"Guards represent the shield of someone's passion. A curator hires guards to protect his collectibles, someone who is aware of the secrets to Tomb of Hermes Tri-Something does not want any intruders."

"So, what you're saying is that there could be someone else out there who knows something is hidden within the Tomb of Hermes Trismegistus and they hire gunmen to protect the tomb day and night?"

"It's only a theory but it's like what my father used to say: 'The heavier the gun, the bigger the man. He who hires the most guns has the most motivation'."

"Okay, even if there was someone out there besides Vita Longa that we're dealing with, should we really consider them a threat?"

"We'll call them neutral," Cassie said. "We'll figure out who's what later, right now, just focus on the tomb." She pulls up the tomb on her phone through Google Maps. Even the five guards were in the picture. "What other guards are there aside from the five aforementioned guards?"

"There are a hundred and thirty-two cameras in total with two people operating surveillance," Joshua said, "Sixty-six in both the outside and inside of the tomb."

"That means they've already gone inside the tomb," Derek said, "Whoever these people are that hired the PMCs are already a step ahead of us. Could it be Vita Longa?"

"Hard to say," Cassie answered, "Because on one hand, they've been searching for the Philosopher's stone for a long time and on the other hand, they had to steal the Voynich Manuscript the day before today."

"The Voynich Manuscript only provides clues as to where the Philosopher's Stone could be," Derek noted, "Which means that they could be deciphering the manuscript the same way we did."

"We used colored clipboards to read between the lines, and Vita Longa may have existed since the beginning of the Roman Empire but the people running it are humans born during the early 2000s."

"Excuse me," Joshua said quietly and spoke, "What about the topic of the cameras?"

"That's right," Cassie said, "We still need to figure out a plan to break into the tomb. If the tomb is that big and they have sixty-six cameras placed inside the tomb, that means they are evenly spaced out. One thing I do know is that this will be a difficult task but who says adventuring is easy?"

"The surveillance room is three hundred meters to the southeast of the tomb," Joshua said, shocking both Cassie and Derek.

"And you know this how?" Derek asked. "Your friend's father?"

"No, my partner helped me out on this one. When you two told me about another one of your adventures, I did research on the tomb in Rome. Using my prior knowledge, I asked my partner if they could find out anything else and I was told about the surveillance and the number of cameras inside."

"So you're 'partner', is she a hacker?" Cassie asked.

Joshua looked at her blankly. _She…_ he thought. "Yes _she_ is and _she_ is a highly skilled hacker. _She_ is also in Rome with us."

"That's good, let's meet up with her," Derek said. "If we have to sneak into the tomb to complete the first step in finding the Philosopher's Stone, then we need the cameras off and we need a plan."

"Don't worry you two," Cassie said, "I have a plan. I'll need a map, a sharpie, and I would like for Joshua's girlfriend to join us."

_Girlfriend…_ Joshua thought. "I'll call _her._"

"Good," Cassie said, "And I desire some food."

"I could eat," Derek said.

"You have to eat something else aside from strawberries, Derek, we're in Italy."

"I'll call my _girlfriend_ and see if _she_ can pick up food on the way," Joshua said.

"Good," Cassie said.

"What do you want; I'll eat what you guys are having."

"We'll take Italian-style pizza, pasta, and lobster ravioli."

* * *

"I did what you wanted," the attacker from the museum said. "Take the book and I want to earn my pay."

"I like a man or woman with integrity," Austin Harris said as he handed the woman a check. "This should be enough." The woman nodded and he held up the manuscript. He flipped through several pages before placing it down on the table. His eyes are caught by the existence of the woman and the two men behind her. One of them had a broken finger.

"Eins, Zwei, and Drei. You came out unscathed, except one, who came back with less than five fingers on one hand," Harris said.

The tallest one of the three mercenaries clutched his broken finger. "It was snapped by a girl," he said.

"Zwei," Harris said, "Put some ice on it."

Zwei followed his advice and pulled out a bag of peas from the freezer.

Harris took the manuscript and headed into a room on the second floor. He opens it up to a shirtless man with muscles sitting on the ground and crushing something in his hand.

"What is there to report, Harris?" the shirtless and muscular man asked with a deep voice.

"The Voynich Manuscript is within our grasps," Harris answered, "But the Three Mercs said they had some trouble. They said that a woman jumped onto the car while they were driving away. I had Marcel and Pavel review the security footage and the woman was Cassie Drake, daughter of Nathan Drake."

The muscular man stood up with a sigh and faced Harris with bulging muscles. He approached the short man and snatched the manuscript from him. "I'm growing impatient here." He slapped the book closed before holding it under his armpit. "We know where the Philosopher's Stone is, this heist was a way to ensure no one else figured out where the stone is as well. If Cassie Drake is involved in this then we can't take any chances. If she is truly her father's daughter then she'll be two steps behind us. We need to stay two steps ahead of her. Wherever she is, I want you to take Marcel, Pavel, the Three Mercs, and anybody with you and follow Drake."

"And kill her?" Harris asked.

"She's a slippery one," the muscular man said, "She's survived most situations that would normally kill a regular person. If we can't overpower her then we must outwit her. Find her, find out what she knows, and do whatever it takes to hold her back. We're days away from opening the gate and we can't afford Drake to catch up to us. Harris, kill Drake only if you have a one hundred percent guarantee but make sure that she dies by the hands of a mercenary, not by a member of Vita Longa. No chances must be taken."

Harris nodded. "Yes sir, I will gather the Illusionists, The Mercs, and I will leave with them myself. I will also leave our small army with you. We will slow her down wherever she is and by the time she's caught up, we're so close to opening the gate."

"I have faith in you, Harris," the muscular man said. "Be careful and be vigilant."


	9. Hermes Tri-Something

Night

"Noioso," a guard complained in his native Italian language, "Vorrei essermi iscritto per qualcos'altro." (1)

"Smetti di lamentarti," his friend told him, "Stiamo ricevendo buoni soldi per questo." (2)

"Otto ore senza fare nulla?" (3)

"Meglio di qualsiasi lavoro che conosca." (4)

This was the normal life for these two guards taking the night watch. It was midnight which meant they still had until eight o'clock before they could take their time off to sleep for sixteen hours at the most before returning to the night job once again. The two guards each had an AK-47 holstered under their armpits and they had a sight of a beautiful city with lights turned on in front of them. There were still tourists but they kept their distance.

The other three guards were stationed elsewhere and the two guards had nothing but instincts to rely on when there came a white van with the logo of a company on the side. It pulled up and to the tomb and the driver came out. He had a clipboard with him and dark brown hair that almost matched the color of the night. He had a pair of glasses that gave him a nerdy look. When he stepped closer to the guards, the moonlight from above illuminated his face and revealed to the guards that he was a young man in his early twenties.

But honestly, he was skinny as hell, looking like he hadn't worked out since he was born.

"Questa è proprietà privata!" the first guard shouted as he neared his hand to the gun. (5)

"Sono un ispettore," the driver said. He takes out a pen and clicks it. He writes down his observations on the clipboard before he faces the two guards, who face froze with suspicious looks. "Non darmi quello sguardo." (6)

The second guard demanded the driver hand over ID and proof that he works for 'Vita Longa'. The driver shows him his ID and the guard looks stumped and afraid at the same time.

The driver's name was Erik Yuri.

"Non sei nativo," the guard with the ID panicked. (7)

"Non ti ho assunto per sputarmi. Di nuovo in fila, non desidero essere qui a lungo," Yuri spoke as he wrote down something else on the clipboard. (8)

"Cosa stai facendo qui?" the first guard asked in haste. (9)

"I preparativi. Domani è festa del lavoro per noi," Yuri answered. (10) The young man finished writing down on the clipboard before he turned back to the van. He opens the back of the van and a man with blond hair steps out. Together, the two pick up a large wooden crate and use all of their physical strength to move the crate to the front entrance of the tomb. The two guards stood their ground.

Yuri ordered them to get out of the way, neither one budged, however. Yuri got mad and dropped the wooden crate. He moves over to the guard he gave his ID to. He shoves him against the wall but the guard kicks Yuri in the stomach and gets the young man in a chokehold.

The first guard cocked his rifle and aimed it at the passenger.

It looked like it was over for Yuri because no matter how many times he struggled, he could not free himself from the guard's grip. No doubt that these people were trained by the military. The first guard kept his barrel drawn on the passenger, ready to pull the trigger until someone spoke into his ear.

"You're an embarrassment," someone spoke in English in his earpiece before he translated in Italian. "You assault one of our employees when we gave you orders to leave them alone?"

_What…_ the guard thought, _Who is this person and how did he get into our communications? More importantly, he said something about orders._

The guard kept his gun raised on the passenger and used his left hand to answer the earpiece. He demanded the person speaking to him to identify himself.

"Open up your phone and I'll tell you."

The guard complies and pulls out his phone. There was one message that was sent to him three hours ago. When he opened up the text, it read…

_Delivery Van; Authorization, Accepted._

The text came from an unlisted number and he remembered his employer calling him from an unlisted number. Once he realized this, his heart started pounding.

"Get the picture," Yuri said in English to the guard. He was still locked in the chokehold and his face blushes.

The guard turned to the other and ordered him to release Yuri from the chokehold. The tough guard refused to release him until he felt a vibration in the back of his pants. He used his free hand to retrieve the phone and see the same message. After rereading it twice in his head, he moved his forearm away from Yuri's throat like it scalded him.

Yuri clutched his throat and backed away from the guard, coughing and blushing. The passenger puts a hand on Yuri's shoulder but Yuri smacked it away.

"You'll be hearing this from my boss," Yuri said, "Trust me when I tell you that your life will be hell for you if you pull something like that again."

What scared both guards was that Yuri spoke in perfect English and neither guard could understand perfect English so whatever threat he made went over their heads and it frightened the two.

Yuri and the passenger resumed their task of picking up the crate and they drag it through the front entrance. The stone door opened when one hand from each person pressed against it. There were no lights inside the tomb but there were red dots hanging above the ceiling which any schoolboy could guess was a security camera recording.

They placed the crate in the center of the tomb and left, closing the door behind them.

"Now, Derek," a voice whispered.

The glowing red dot to the closest security camera went out.

Cassie and Derek push the top of the crate off and switch on their night-vision goggles. They jump out of the crate, Derek took the time to put the top back in place, and they sprint for the nearest corner.

"It worked," Cassie patted Derek. Her night-vision goggles lit up with a green screen and she saw Derek crouching. She followed his example subconsciously. "Told you the plan would work."

"It was a very complicated plan," Derek whispered. He holds up his hand to reveal a walkie-talkie. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Yes," Cassie answered, "As long as you hold down that transmit button, the closest security camera will jam and give us time to move."

Derek presses down harder on the transmission button. "Your whole plan was so complex I thought it wasn't going to work."

"You doubt me," she said with a smirk, "The plan was simple: Joshua rents a van, slaps a fake sticker on the side, and rolls up to the tomb with us in the crate. Joshua's partner, 'Erik', hacks into the database the cameras are using, gives us a military-grade jammer on the cameras, find out the names and schedules of the contractors, and find out who contacted them for this job and then we duplicate that number to give a false authorization code. 'Erik' is quite the skilled hacker, he should be on NSA's most wanted list."

"What about the earpiece I spoke into?" he asked.

"That was insurance that no harm would come. What's more freaky than a mysterious boss hiring you and saying that he sees you?"

"What about the Vita Longa logo slapped onto the van?"

"That was a precaution," she said, "If Vita Longa is after the stone, same as us, then we stand no chance against a secret society that could attack us in the dark. We needed to take away their advantage: their secrecy. Once someone working with Vita Longa sees that logo, they'll report it into their boss and they'll be panicky. Sure, they'll send mercenaries after us like that woman in the museum but we can spot mercenaries from a mile away."

After a while, they decided that this was no longer the time to talk so they quickly got moving. The transmission button that Derek was holding would be released when they were sure they were out of sight from security cameras. When they spotted a red dot, Derek presses down on the button and they sneak around it.

Turns out that this tomb wasn't so secretive after all. All the passages had been blocked off ahead of time with concrete blocks used in construction. If they brought explosives, they could've blown this cement wall to pieces but that wasn't going to happen.

_Need another plan,_ she thought, _why bother setting up these cameras if they sealed the place off? Unless the one who hired these contractors was aware of what's behind this door and barricaded it and set up cameras to watch._

"Over here," Derek called in a hushed voice, "I found something."

Cassie moves over to the side and courches down next to Derek. He checks one last time to make sure they were out of the cameras' sight before he pointed down to the ground. "There's an opening right here, barely big enough to crawl through."

"That can mean anything," Cassie said.

"But with our luck?"

"It can't be that easy."

And to prove it, Cassie climbed through the opening in the wall and just as she expected it, a wall of rocks. She removed herself and faced Derek. "I told you," she said. Even with her green vision, she could see Derek blush behind his night-vision goggles.

"Derek, what did I tell ya?"

"I'm only human."

Cassie rolls her eyes and cranes her head up, and she would've missed it had it not been for her night-vision goggles. "Up there, there's an opening."

"There is," Derek spotted the opening two stories above him. "It's like a rathole the VC used in the Vietnam war, except it is in the wall."

"Good metaphor and I doubt this one would be blocked off by rocks."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because if this passageway," she gestures to the cement wall, "Then they would drop their guard because this is the only way in and out of the tomb." She scans her environment. "And there are no cameras focused on the rathole up there, only the barricade." She moves around Derek and plants both hands on the wall, blindly groping for a handhold.

_This'll be the first time I went rock climbing with NVGs on so I have to be careful._ She checks to make sure she brought the essential equipment with her: Grappling hook, piton, pocket-sized journal, all check.

Her hand rests against a handhold and she goes for it. She pulls herself up with her upper body strength and glues her feet to the wall. She climbs up and it was hand over hand on the handholds.

One handhold loosened under her weight but it didn't fall. Her heart dropped to her chest before she put it back in place. She reaches the rathole and pulls herself headfirst in. She kept hold before reaching one hand and making sure that her NVGs were screwing with her.

_No rocks, which means that this could be a path after all._

"It's clear," she whispered to Derek. "I'm going in." She pulled herself in the rathole all the way and slithered her way through.

_Thank god I'm not claustrophobic._

She had been crawling across the ground for two or three minutes and she heard Derek crawling from behind. The ground was getting steep and she felt like she was going to slide like she was sliding down a rooftop during a heavy rainstorm.

They reached the end of the cave and she almost fell over the edge. She caught herself in the nick of time before she leaped down into a dark room.

"Where am I?" She hears Derek leap after her. "Derek, do you see where we are?"

Derek did a three-sixty scan. "It looks like some kind of library of some kind."

"It's an alchemist lab," she clarified, "It's like the one my father found in France, it was John Dee's lab."

"So there is some kind of clue for us to find?"

"I'll light up the place." She pulls out her zippo and lights up a torch. The room with up and pained their eyes from the NVG. They discarded their NVGs and allowed for their eyes to adjust to the alchemist lab.

There was a table with the Hebrew symbol in the center and bookshelves in every cornered loaded with thick and thin books. The two young adventurers looked around the room. Cassie went to one of the shelves and spotted a book with a title on the spine: quattuor gradus.

"Holy crap," Cassie whispered, "We're in the lab of Hermes Tri-Something, for reals."

* * *

**Italian to English Translations**

**1\. Boring, I wish I had signed up for something else.**

**2\. Stop complaining, we are getting good money for this.**

**3\. Eight hours without doing anything.**

**4\. Better than any job I know.**

**5\. This is private property!**

**6\. I'm an inspector. Don't give me that look.**

**7\. You are not a native.**

**8\. I didn't hire you to spit on me. Back in line, I don't want to be here long.**

**9\. What are you doing here?**

**10\. Preparations. Tomorrow is Labor Day for us.**


	10. Four Steps

"A book," Derek said dryly, "Like there's anything significant about it."

Cassie's eyes were glued to the book like a camera. Her eyeballs moved up and down the pages and she licked her lips as the flipped to the next page. "Holy shit," she said, "I can't believe this."

Derek looked at her with a stunning look. "What's going on?"

Cassie gasps with excitement and her face cracks into a smile. "I cannot believe this." She turned away and planted the book down on the table with a thud. She took out her journal and with the pencil she brought, wrote down what she analyzed. "This adventure is drawing a map for us practically."

_Oh no,_ Derek thought, _She's stuck in THAT mode._ "I hate it when you do that, Cassie. Have you ever tried not being your father's child."

"Hmm?" Cassie looked up. "Did you say something?"

_Damn her,_ he thought, _Playing the cool chick just to annoy me. Not going to work._ "Yes, I said that I would like to date you out for Italian pizza."

"I heard what you said, Derek, but I am my father's daughter. It runs in the genes." _If only I was actually wearing jeans._ "Derek, read this part in this thick and heavy book and translate it to modern-day English."

"If you say so," Derek said with a shrug. He reached for the journal before Cassie pointed to the source she was copying from. He picked it up and read it.

_And one by one, we began gathering the others. When Nicolas Flamel first came to me with the Philosopher's stone, he was small-minded. He said that we should keep the stone for ourselves and reproduce all the gold in the world and live in the twenty-first century. I was the one who convinced him to think bigger. I was the one who told him that people with our ability need to keep our abilities a secret. When I discovered my sorcery abilities, I kept it a secret but as I speak with Nicolas and his wife, it makes me think of all the others sharing my abilities. Thanks to the stone, I've lived beyond my natural end, yet, I'm not immortal. I've made friends with Ostanes the Persian and he shares our ability. I spoke to Nicolas, his wife, and Ostanes, and the four of us have come to a unanimous agreement to do something with the stone._

"What is this?" Derek asked.

"Read," Cassie ordered without looking as her focus was still on writing in the journal.

_One by one, we gathered all the sorceries and we came together to build a perfect just for us. A land for sorcerers, a land to hide the source of our power._

"Holy crap," Derek said.

_You took those words right out of my mouth,_ Cassie thought. "You took those words right out of my mouth," she said.

"They created a lost city with the Philosopher's Stone," he said, "Not only that, but they banded together with all the alchemists in the world to create this city."

"That makes this thing even more exciting," Cassie said as she finished putting the last of her thoughts in the journal. "We're looking for both a lost city and a mythical object." _And by the time we're done, chances are, the Philosopher's Stone will stay a myth._ "The thrill, this hasn't happened before. We are looking for a legendary mythical object within a lost city; two for the price of one."

"The thick book said that the Philosopher's Stone granted them the power to perform alchemy, which they called wizardry. If that's the case, then does that mean that Nicolas Flamel didn't create the Philosopher's Stone?"

"I can only infer because you're the expert on alchemy, Derek." She took the book and flipped to the next page. "Look at this: Nothing." She flipped the book to show the empty contents of the next page. "Literally nothing, like Hermes Tri-Something failed to finish what he was writing in his book."

"For someone who is immortal, he apparently doesn't have a lot of time to write his thoughts."

"I know. It makes me wonder if being immortal is really what its cracked up to be." A sly smile crosses her face. "Then again, you and I are immortal: We've survived the worst of the worst and came out on top."

"But Vita Longa wants true immortality," Derek said, "If there is where the book ends then how are we going to find the lost city and the stone?"

"Already a step ahead." She heads to the bookshelf and pulls out a second book that was thin but thick with pages. "The title on the spine reads unus gradus, which translates as 'One Step' in Latin. Then there's duo gradus, but tres gradus is missing."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"There are four legendary alchemists. Hermes Tri-Something is the owner of the fourth book and when I looked through these books the first time around, I noticed that unus and duos were completely blank of writing."

"So?"

"So? It means that we're missing something. If Hermes Tri-Something was the fourth of the alchemists to band together then this is the lab of the fourth. The books are arranged in order from one to four but three are missing. I can't explain it but what I do know is that Tres Gradus is also mentioned in the Voynich." She pulls out her journal. "This entry right here says that there four steps to finding the Philosopher's stone but not stated in detail. Four books but one missing, it can't be a coincidence."

"But wait," Derek said, "How can a missing book even help us when we don't know where it is?"

Cassie's eyes widened.

Derek picked up on this. "What is it?"

"I can't believe it," she muttered, "I just can't believe it. How could I have been so stupid, it's practically obvious in hindsight."

"What are you talking about?!" Derek demanded.

"Vita Longa knows where the Philosopher's Stone is," she said like she was spitting out vomit for the first time.

"What?" he gasped.

"They've known where it was the entire time," she said.

"Please explain."

"There are four steps stated in the Voynich Manuscript and four books on the lab of Hermes Tri-Something but the third book is missing. The key to finding where the stone is lies within the third book, which is the book of Ostanes the Persian."

"What about Vita Longa?"

"Vita Longa already knows where the Philosopher's Stone is. I came to this conclusion when I realized that someone explored this tomb before us and they set up the barricade. They left everything in place but they took one book. There's no way the could've known about the books because the Voynich Manuscript mentions nothing about four alchemists each owning a book and Joshua said that these private contractors have been guarding this tomb for a few months. That means that someone has already figured out what the third book means and they are already at the lost city."

"But what about the heist?"

"The heist that happened a day or two ago wasn't about finding the stone but preventing other people from finding it."

"Why choose to attack now?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "What I do know is that it is Vita Longa. The employer of the PMCs has an unlisted number and I could tell based on the guard's reaction that he has never heard the voice of his employer personally."

"Back to the museum thing, the heist took place after we had deciphered the code."

"It's almost like the heist was initiated as soon as we deciphered it," Cassie said, "It had to have been premeditated because of the woman."

"True," Derek said, "But can we discuss more of this when we get out of here, I'm starting to get claustrophobic."

"Okay," Cassie nodded. She put the books back in their previous location and looked at the rathole she came through. "Give me a boost and I'll pull you up."

Derek did as he complied and he boosted Cassie up into the rathole. She pulled herself to the top and she yanked Derek up when she was secure.

The two began crawling back, neither one saying a word out loud.

_I can't believe it,_ Cassie thought, _For once, the villain is already two steps ahead. They know where the Philosopher's Stone and this mysterious lost city is. The heist was premeditated but only when it came to the museum for us to be deciphered. This could only mean that Vita Longa knows who Derek and I are and that their goal was not to find the stone but to stop us from finding it. If that's the case then it makes sense. If they already found the stone then there would be no need to slow us down but they're already two steps ahead and at the stone's hiding place. Vita Longa discovered this tomb and it was them who took the book and hired the PMCs to guard this place. Vita Longa has been two steps ahead of us this whole time and I underestimated them. But then again, they still haven't found the stone which means we still have a chance. For the first time in a long time, the villains are in defense while the heroes are in the offense. But they might see us coming and they're a secret society which means they hide in the shadows and that gives them an advantage. But the van parked outside with the logo on the side acts as both a solid defense and lethal attack. It is telling our enemies that we know of their existence and that we have already dropped the hint that they are real which means their chances of attacking themselves would be slim so they would have to rely on mercenaries._

Cassie reached the end of the rathole. She stuck one hand out to grab a handhold before a gunshot forced her head back in like a turtle.

"Oh crap," she cursed and crawled back, bumping into Derek in the panic. "I can't believe it."

"How did they find out?"

_Vita Longa, they're stationed in Italy. These must be mercenaries._

Cassie heard footsteps hitting the ground lightly and realized that someone was running to the rathole and this person was followed by another. She counted three pairs of footsteps which totaled to three men.

She pulled out her gun from his waist and aimed it at the rathole. She felt a little upset about killing private contractors but they were going to kill her and she didn't want to die. It's a clear case of self-defense.

_Especially when they're hired by a secret society._

_Ping!_

A smoke grenade was thrown into rathole and landed right near Cassie's shoulder. She smacked the grenade away and over the edge but another one quickly followed. "Stop throwing grenades!"

The opposite happened and four grenades were thrown at once and Cassie's eyes stung from the smoke. Her throat caught dry and convulsed.

"Cassie," Derek gagged and grabbed Cassie by the shoulder. He drags down the way they just came and back into the Hermes Tri-Something lab. He leaps down and calls for Cassie.

_Tear gas,_ Cassie thought, _These can't be the contractors if they were ordered to shoot on sight, which means that Vita Longa is here._

Cassie leaps back down into the lab and coughs into her fist. She hits her shoulder against the wall and falls to her knees. Derek's chest falls onto the table and he coughs like an infected patient.

The lights start going dark.

_I can't believe it, our luck really has run out. We've come so far on so many adventures and to have it end like this, it's unforgivable. Unbelievable. I'm not even twenty-three and I'm going to die. But if I'm going to die, then why am I picturing a fire-breathing horse in front of me?_


	11. Fatality

_I'm seeing a fire-breathing horse, gotta save Derek._

Cassie steps up and clutches her head. She bites her bottom lip and limps over to the table. The fire-breathing horse launches itself in the air and kicks Cassie in the face with its two front feet.

Cassie's head snaps back and she lands on her rear. She remembers the Beretta 92FS she is still holding in her hand and aims it at the horse. She pulls the trigger and her ears bleed in agony.

The horse falls over on its side and another figure replaced him from the doorway. It was a man dressed as a scarecrow with a pumpkin as a head. The scarecrow grabs its head and removes it from its body.

_Headless horsemen._

She fires again but much to her surprise, she was aiming for the head. Pumpkinhead stood unfazed but as still as a rigor mortis body.

Cassie grabs onto the table and reaches blindly for Derek, keeping her eyes on pumpkinhead. She feels for Derek's shirt and wraps her arm around her. "We have to go."

"No, I don't want chocolate ice cream,' Derek said as Cassie lifted him up. "Strawberries."

_Great, now he's delusional._

Cassie puts his arm over his shoulder and carries him out the door.

_Where did these guys come from? How did they get through the barricade?_

She walks past pumpkinhead, who was still standing like the scarecrow he was. She couldn't help herself. She pushed the body over and it blew up in a cloud of smoke briefly which revealed that it was actually a guard but it was not one of the guards from the front.

She looks at the horse she shot and saw that it was a second security guard.

She drags the delusional Derek down the cave but there was something strange about the cave. The ceiling was dripping of water and the ground below them was smoking.

_What is this?_ She asked herself, _That tear gas must've been some kind of hallucinogen._ She looked behind her and saw a wall of water coming from the lab and towards her. _Where did that water come from?_

She decided that she wasn't going to take any chances and limped as fast as she could but Derek's weight was dragging her.

"Don't drag me down, Derek," Cassie said. She limps faster but the water came at a slow and steady pace towards her. She picked up the paste as fast as she could but the water was still gaining on her.

"This is surreal, I can't drown."

Because Cassie risked looking over her shoulder, she didn't see the wooden door she bumped headfirst into.

_I felt pain which means this is a real door._

She pushes it open with one hand and freezes when she realizes that she's in a cornfield in bright daylight. "What the hell is this?" The water that was chasing her sank into the ground and became nothing more than a puddle beneath her boots.

_This is a hallucinogen,_ she thought, _Pretty clever. If Vita Longa would've sent somebody, then they would've sent someone who didn't need to get their hands dirty._

Outside of the world of hallucination, Harris hid among the trees and gave the signal. Marcel raised the barrel of his rifle and lined the crosshairs up to Cassie's head as she came out of the tomb. The guards from earlier were restationed elsewhere, he didn't want to shoot his own men.

He lines the sniper's rifle up between Cassie's eyes and prepares to pull the trigger.

Cassie fell forward.

"What the hell?" Marcel exclaimed.

Cassie and Derek, still under the effect of the hallucinogen and believing that they were walking into a cornfield, fell down a flight of stairs.

Cassie hit her head against the ground and the world started spinning again.

"I can't see them," Marcel said, "They're out of sight."

"Kill them," Pavel urged and pulled out binoculars, "I'll spot them for you."

Cassie lifted her head off the ground and groaned. "What is happening to me, Derek?"

"No clue," Derek responded and made Cassie gasp.

"You've snapped out of it, Derek!" She climbed to her feet and yanked Derek up. "We can't stay here, Vita Longa is watching us from the shadows."

"Are they really here?"

A gunshot went off and she felt something whist past her face. Experience has taught her that this was the result of a bullet missing her head by inches.

"I need to adjust my sights," Marcel said.

"Hurry," Pavel said, "They're on the run."

Cassie and Derek ducked out of their as fast as they could. They ran away from the tomb and looked through the darkness for the source of the sniper. They never stayed in one spot for too long as they both came to the conclusion that this sniper was experienced and he missed either on purpose or got arrogant.

"Now I got ya," Marcel smiled.

He fired but the bullet hit a different target.

The white van with the logo blocked his sight and the bullet intended to hit Cassie's head hit just above the I in Vita Longa which looked like the uppercase I was doted.

"Get in," Joshua yelled as he slid open the side door. The two adventurers wasted no time and climbed in. they barely had time to slide the door close before the driver took off. A second bullet fires and aims for the driver and had it not been for the bulletproof window, it would've been a fatal headshot.

The driver, Erkin Yura, sped off as fast as he could.

Marcel aimed at the left tire in the front and fired.

The car could not be controlled and swerved like a jeep on ice. The driver struggles to regain control of the van's direction but no amount of willpower could control overpowering this vehicle. The best he could do was drive in the opposite direction as far as he could be based on where the sniper was from the cracked window.

The van swerved and hit a tree. The driver's head hit the wheel and bounced back.

"Got it," Marcel cheered, "I'll just need a clear sight and they'll be dead."

"There's a blindspot," Pavel mentioned, "There's a door on the other side."

"No matter," he said, "I'll just pull out the big gun."

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast," Harris said. "We can't afford to waste time."

"Our assignment was to slow down Drake and that's what we're doing." He reaches over and puts his M21 away. He brings out the big gun and moves a shrub out of the way to take aim with the Barrett M82A1.

"Everybody okay?" Cassie asked as she rubbed her head. She was lying on the floor and her pistol slid out of her hand. She retrieves it off the ground and looks at the injured Derek. He hit his head against the wall and left a large gash across his forehead.

"We gotta get you to a doctor."

A gunshot as loud as a heavy sniper rifle rang out and a gush of wind flew near Cassie's head once again. She jumps in terror and crawls away. There was another gush of wind coming from her right and another hole blown into the wall.

"Goddamn sniper," Cassie said, "And he's got a gun that can fire through the van."

"Erkin," Joshua shouted as he pushed himself up, "Get out of the driver's seat."

Erik Yuri, or rather, Erkin Yura, dived out of the driver's seat just as the window shattered from another bullet.

The four friends ducked to the ground as more bullets intruded te van.

"What the hell is going on?" Derek shouted.

"That sounds like a Barrett sniper rifle," Joshua said like he was analyzing, "A heavy gun that fires .50 BMG bullets. And judging that he shot out the front tire of a moving vehicle with a lesser weapon before switching to the Barrett, we're dealing with a skilled sniper."

"Screw your analysis," Erkin said, "Let's just get out of here."

"We'll climb out this way." Cassie opens the side door seconds before another shot fired and hit the space open from the sliding door.

Cassie jumps out immediately with Joshua and Erkin following close behind. She ran for about three seconds before her limbic system told her something that caused her to freeze in place.

"Where's Derek?!"

She turned back and saw Derek laying motionless on the ground with his eyes closed. She feared the worst and raced back. "Derek," she cried out, "Derek!" She jumps into the van and puts a hand on his cheek. She whimpered his name in fear before another shot rang out. This time, the bullet hit her pistol in the barrel. She dropped the gun instinctively before grabbing the motionless Derek by the shoulders and dragged him out the van like a dummy.

"Cassie," Joshua called out, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm asking Derek on a date, what do you think?!" she shouted back. She dragged him out and with all her strength, lifted him to his feet and dragged him away from the van. Before she could make it ten feet from the van, a bullet struck near her foot. She jumped and thought that the sniper repositioned before she noticed that the gunshot this bullet came from was that of a softer sounding gun and it was coming from her right, where the museum was.

When she turned, she saw the five security guards rushing her with the intent to kill and the first shot was a warning shot. Remembering where she dropped the gun, she let Derek fall onto his back and dives for the gun on the van's floor. She takes it and aims it at the first guard rushing her. She aims and shoots him in the head. She wastes little to no time to shoot the next guard in the head.

The third, fourth, and fifth guard halted and fired their assault rifles.

Cassie rolled under the van as cover and fired two shots into the third guard's chest before he fell over. The fourth and fifth guard spread outgoing in opposite directions and her sights follow the fourth guard running to her left and she fires at his head. With only one left, she aims it at his head as he crouches and shoulders his gun.

Before her finger could squeeze the trigger, the guard's head exploded like a pumpkin.

_Holy hell, did I do that?_ She almost dropped her gun from shock and thought, _What kind of power am I holding in this gun?_

Then she realized that her pistol was too weak to cause a man's head to explode and she deduced that in her haste, the sniper of the Barrett shot the security guard.

"My kill," Marcel muttered under his breath as he repositioned from the dead security officer to Cassie hiding under the van. "Got you now." He wastes no time and squeezes the trigger.

_CLICK!_

"Shit," he cursed, "I'm out of ammo!"

Marcel loaded another magazine into the sniper rifle and Harris watched intently from behind.

_That's what he meant,_ Harris thought, _That's what the boss meant. Cassie Drake has survived all of Marcel's assassination attempts by blind luck alone. I doubt by the time he reloads that Cassie will be under the van._

Cassie rolls out from under the van back to where Derek was laying. He was slowly regaining consciousness.

"No time for a slumber party," Cassie said as she climbed to her knees over to him. "Wake up!"

Marcel cocked the sniper rifle and aimed. Cassie disappeared from under the van.

"They're still behind the van," Pavel said, "The two of them. Take them both out!"

Derek clutches his head and with Cassie's help, limps on out of there. One last gunshot rang out and Derek felt something connect to his right leg. He fell down to the ground and in his concussion state, he feared the worst.

"Get down," Cassie shouted and kicked Derek in the right hand as she listened to her instincts to avoid a gunshot. As soon as she and Derek hit the ground, a bullet lodged into the dirt several feet in front of Cassie.

_If I hadn't ducked, that would've been a fatal headshot._


	12. Wikipedia

"Get him inside," Cassie ordered as she held the hotel door open for Joshua and Erkin to carry Derek inside. They lay Derek down on the closest bed while Cassie locks the door as a precaution. Joshua and Erkin laid Derek carefully on the bed and they rested his head on the soft pillow.

"Are either of you a doctor?" Cassie demanded. If she were a crazy woman then she'd be waving her pistol around but she had to get rid of her pistol before entering the building, same as she had to get rid of Derek's.

"I have some medical skills," Joshua said, "In addition to being a pilot, my father also taught me medical skills."

"What are the odds?" Erkin said, "Your father is an RAF pilot and Derek's mother served in the Navy."

Cassie punched Erkin the arm. "No time for jokes!"

Erkin rubbed his sore arm, "Someone's a little ecstatic because I wasn't making a single joke."

She still dragged Erkin by the shirt and away from the bed. "Let the only certified doctor do his work."

Joshua assessed the damage done upon the drowsy Derek. He took out a small flashlight from his front pocket and shined it in Derek's eyes. After a few minutes, he sat up and faced Cassie. She was slightly trembling in fear of what could happen to Derek.

"He's fine," Joshua reassured, "He's suffered from a concussion. Blunt force trauma combined with the hallucinogen that you two were hit with.

Cassie's heart dropped to her stomach. _What have I done? What have I done? I forced Derek into another adventure and I bestowed this upon him. What's wrong with me; I'm a monster. My desire to go on another adventure with Derek clouded the possible consequences. I'm not some superhero, I'm a human. To have Derek hurt like this is a painful reminder._

Cassie turned away and went to go sit on the other side of the bed, her chin resting in her hands.

Joshua and Erkin noticed this and looked at each other.

"What's up with Cassie?" Joshua asked.

"She's not excited," Erkin said, "She must be sad."

"I know," Joshua said, "We shouldn't focus on her, just Derek. Get some ice for his head." Erkin went to the freezer to pull out a bag of peas. "I guess this will do."

About two hours have passed and Derek's condition has changed only slightly. He was now somewhat aware of the commands being told to him.

Even when it was four o'clock in the morning (in Italian time), Cassie was still up and reflecting on her guilt. Erkin had fallen asleep but Joshua stayed awake and did everything in his power to make sure Derek didn't fall asleep.

About an hour later, around five in the morning, Cassie stepped out onto the balcony and rested her forearms against the rails. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes, lowering her head.

_This adventuring life is a curse. Derek's injuries may not be life dangering but I now understand. I now know why people get hysterical when someone they love gets- Did I say, love?!_

She looked back to the drowsy Derek. _Am I really in love with Derek that I'm willing to throw away the book just to protect him?_ She takes out her pocket-sized journal and flips through the pages without looking. _It seems like a reasonable idea. It's either Derek or this adventure life. I chose Derek, of course._ She holds the journal over the edge and prepares to release it but her fingers press down hard against the cover and keep a tight grip.

"Wait…"

Cassie looked back inside and saw Derek reaching out for her. Cassie put the book back in her pocket and ran over to Derek.

"Derek, are you okay?" She lifted his head up so he could sit up properly. He grabs the side of his head but the pain went away when he saw Cassie's beautiful face. He couldn't resist the urge to run a finger through her wavy hair.

"What are you doing, throwing away your golden ticket to the Philosopher's Stone?" He laughed but Cassie didn't.

"I don't see what's so funny," she said, "You could've died."

"I _would've_ died had it not been for you. I _should've_ died had it not been for you."

"Derek," Cassie shook her head, "This whole adventure was a mistake. We should've just stayed home and study to pass college. We still graduate in a couple of months."

"June of next year," he said, "I know I said I wanted a vacation from treasure hunting but how can I now? Think logically, Cassie, the villains already know where the Philosopher's Stone is, their game is to slow us down because we're expendable to them. I don't know about you, Cassie, but I would rather be killed because I am a potential threat then be killed because I'm a nuisance."

"I don't want you to die at all, Derek," she said and sat down on the bed next to him, "We've been on so many adventures together Derek but where is the limit? We say that we're immortal but we are just humans. We can still be killed and hurt, i.e., you."

Derek touched the sore spot in the back of his head. "This is nothing, I've had worse."

"But I insisted on you coming with me on this adventure, it's my fault that you got injured."

Derek narrows his eyes. "How come when I get hurt on a mission, your first instinct is to get back at the person but in this, you feel guilty? I came with you on this adventure because I wanted to. Injuries like this come with the job and I'm not surprised by them."

"We can still walk away from this adventure," she said almost desperately, "Go back to Hawaii."

"What about the Philosopher's Stone, and Vita Longa?"

"Erkin and I can finish the job," Joshua said, "You said Vita Longa is trying to slow you down so Erkin and I have the element of surprise."

"You're not experienced, Joshua," Cassie said, "You're a pilot and your boyfriend over there is a marine archeologist whose expertise lies more in computers than anything else."

"We'll still push through," he said before looking at the sleeping Erkin, "Me and my sweetheart."

_Sweetheart,_ Cassie thought, _Did Joshua call Erkin his sweetheart? They really are gay for each other. I have gay friends...cool._

"It would be ideal," Derek said, "I mean, you guys do have the element of surprise but you lack the knowledge." He pulls himself off the bed. He almost falls to his knees but Cassie caught him in the nick of time. "You still got my back," he said to her.

"Now would be a good time to pull out," Cassie said. Her eyes widened when she realized what she said. _That's what she said,_ she thought. "Of this adventure and get you to a hospital. No offense but the Royal Air Force knows nothing about medicine."

Joshua arched an eyebrow. _Want a bet?_

"Cassie," Derek said, "The rules of engagement have changed. This time, it really is do or die. The villains we faced previously needed us to find the lost city or mythical object for them but now that the villains know where both the lost city and the mythical object is, we can't let this slide."

"Then you stay here," Cassie said, "If you want this mission to be done then I'll go alone; I don't want to risk any of your lives."

"We all knew the risks when we took this job," Joshua said, "Three years ago, you asked my boyfriend to take you guys into the Bermuda Triangle to look for Atlantis. He told me about the giant shark that almost ate him so don't try and use our corpses as excuses."

"Maybe it took me a long time to figure out the dangers in this job," she said.

"Cassie," Derek said, "I love you, but don't worry. We _are_ immortal. This," he pointed to his bruise, "Is just a reminder that we are immortal."

"We're not immortal, just arrogant."

"Either way, we have to finish this mission. I know that immortality is a real thing and imagine what an ancient society could do with that kind of power!"

Cassie's voice slightly trembled. "I don't know, I'm still concerned about your health, Derek."

"Cassie," Derek said, his voice getting deeper and full of determination, "If you let Vita Longa win after this blunt concussion, I will never forgive you. You gave me a concussion and you're going to make it up by taking down Vita Longa."

_That son of a bitch,_ Cassie thought _He's playing on my emotions. I guess he has a point though, I mean, him getting a bruised head for nothing would be painful to Derek. What should I do? What should I do? I'm not trying to prove anything but I don't want Derek to get hurt. Seeing him hurt hurts me just as bad, if not worse. But if I decline the rest of the mission, I'll hurt him even more. What am I supposed to do?_

Five hours later

Cassie barely got two hours of sleep and had been up all night. She had been writing in her pocket-sized journal with Derek sitting in the chair beside her. She ordered breakfast for the four of them and she spoke up when Derek said that he should look over the journal while Cassie explained the entirety of the situation to Joshua and a fully awake Erkin.

"Do we even have a plan?" Joshua asked, "Or are we flying blind?"

"Don't worry," Erkin said, "Cassie's always got a plan."

"Not exactly," she answered.

"I stand corrected," Erkin said.

"Vita Longa is already at the lost city looking for the Philosopher's Stone. Derek insisted we get it first because legends say that the Philosopher's Stone can great the wielder immortality while turning any metal in gold."

"Wealth and power go hand in hand," Joshua said, "The power of both worlds combined could be catastrophic."

"Assuming that Vita Longa is following through with their original plans to restore Rome back to its former glory, we have to assume they'll be fighting in the ongoing Italian civil war. Either independently or they will be funding one army."

"What you're saying from earlier," Joshua began, "Is that all of the legendary alchemists like Nicolas Flamel and Ostanes the Persian banded together to create the Philosopher's Stone."

"I didn't say create but it could be a possibility that the Philosopher's Stone holds the power of all the alchemists, not just the legendary ones."

"Assuming that Vita Longa discovered this lost city, how do we find it?" Erkin asked. "Even scumbags like Vita Longa need to have some source of information."

"True," Cassie said, "They are dirtbags but given that they existed before the United States became a country, we have to assume this information is inherited through their bloodline." An idea comes to her head. "But then again, they hired PMCs to guard a tomb and the third book in the tomb, belonging to Ostanes the Persian, was missing. This means that there is a way to find the lost city besides inherited information."

"We search up a tomb of an alchemist," Joshua said, "But which alchemist? The Tomb of Hermes had four books with only one missing so assuming that each tomb has four books, where do we look?"

"How about we start with the legendary alchemists," Erkin suggested, "How about we look for the tomb of Ostanes the Persian. It's in Europe."

"How do you know?" Joshua asked.

"It was a project my marine crew was working on before you called, honey."

"Where in Europe?" Cassie asked.

"The Baltic sea," he answered. "If only we could narrow it down."

"I've got it," Derek exclaimed. He held up his cellphone. "Germany, that's where the Tomb of Ostanes the Persian is!"

"How do you know?" Cassie asked.

"I did a simple Google search and Wikipedia said that the Tomb of Ostanes the Persian was originally on an island that went underwater in the 1950s."

Erkin frowned, _Weird, I don't remember any Wikipedia entries on the Tomb of Ostanes the Persian._

"That would be the best place to hide a book," Cassie said, "There can't be full-time guards out there but there is a chance that the books could be old and rotted." She paused. "It doesn't matter," Cassie said, "Joshua, load up your plane because we are going to Germany." _But where?_


	13. Down Under

Baltic Sea, Germany

It had taken them about half a day but Joshua had flown them from Italy to Germany. They arrived in Berlin overnight and on the plane, Cassie was instructed to keep Derek awake no matter what. He could go to sleep from that concussion and never wake up if he did so Cassie sprayed him with water like a plant whenever he fell asleep.

"Stop spraying me" is what Derek kept saying seconds before he would almost fall into his slumber. Cassie would spray him again and when she ran out, she got another bottle of water and sprayed.

They had arrived at a pier right after Erkin made a few calls to let his old research team know that he is in Germany with some personal friends. He told them that he was going on a personal archaeology experience exploring the deep and he needed some diving equipment for his friends. The crew had complied and they left Erkin a boat with diving gear at Ahlbeck Pier.

In addition to the diving gear, Joshua and Erkin went to unofficially purchase several handguns from a merchant while Cassie and Derek set up the boat. Once everything was off the checklist, Erkin drove them out to sea.

Erkin, being the only one who knows the exact location of the tomb, drives them out into the water. They spent roughly twenty-six minutes in the water before they hit a large wave that caused them to bounce. Cassie, out of boredom, looked at Derek as he clutched his head, checking it for additional wounds. To tease him, she taps her foot against his shin. He returns the gesture with a smile and Cassie suddenly blushes.

"You two are compatible," Joshua said as he walked out of the cabin with a diving suit in hand that had been neatly folded. Cassie and Derek looked at him, which was Joshua's cue to explain himself. "You guys work together in so many ways; I can tell by the way you look at each other." He holds the diving suit to Cassie. "It's better if you dive down there, Cassie," he said, "With Derek's concussion it could hurt his brain."

"I can take care of myself," Derek said as he stood up, "I'm strong as an ox."

"But stubborn as a bull," Cassie remarked before taking the diving suit, "I'll get changed." A mischievous thought crossed her mind. "By the way, can I, Cassie, a girl, get naked in front of gay men or will that be a problem?"

"I've seen women naked," Joshua said without any sign of nervousness in his voice, "But I'm not affected by the sight of a fully nude woman."

"You might want to keep that to yourself," she said before heading into the cabin to change.

Joshua stayed with Derek and asked, "I heard from Cassie that you pass out whenever you see her naked, is that true?"

Derek blushes. "No…"

Joshua persisted. "Cassie said that when you and she were in Iceland, the two of you stripped naked and you passed out multiple times."

"Leave the poor man alone," Cassie said after coming out dressed in a red diving suit. "Time to go find Nemo."

About twenty minutes later, the boat came to a complete stop. Cassie had finished setting up her fins and oxygen tank. Her pocket-sized journal was waterproof which worked in her favor stupendously. Erkin came out of the cabin dressed in a blue diving suit.

"You swimming back home to your sea anemone?" Cassie jokes.

"Only if dear father and brother are home," Erkin said.

"Don't forget to pack your guns," Joshua reminded me. He took out the one tucked in his back and handed it to Cassie. "They're waterproof, hold ten bullets with one magazine. They are powerful enough to stop a human but I don't know about a great white shark."

Cassie took the gun and wondered where she should tuck it. She decided that with the safety off, it would be safe in her harness wrapped around her waist. "They're just ruins?" she asked Erkin, "Nothing more?"

"Underwater ruins," he answered, "No different then the ruins you and Derek leave behind."

"Well, destroying lost cities is cooler than finding them," she laughed.

Joshua sets up the goggles and the snorkelers. Joshua looks at Erkin as he secures his goggles around his eyes. "Promise me you'll come back."

"I promise," Erkin said.

Joshua leaned in and kissed Erkin on the cheek. Erkin blushed nervously.

_They kissed,_ Cassie thought.

He tests the air before patting them each on the head.

"You're both okay," he said, "These oxygen tanks should cover you two for two hours at the most. When you start to run out of the air, check your gauge on your left hand, your watch, and I'll hoist you guys up." He orders them to turn around. When they complied, he hooked them to a winch. "Good luck on your finds down there and we'll keep an eye out for any unexpected guests. Find the book and hope the water hasn't ripped the pages from the spine."

She checked her oxygen level on her watch, in the green zone. "Got it," she said before putting the snorkeler in her mouth. She looks at Derek and one sympathetic motion with her hand, waves at him. She leans over the edge and into the cold water.

The cold water was like a wakeup call to Cassie, she missed scuba diving. She had flashbacks of when her parents put her in an ancient divings suit that made her look like the Cyclops from the _Spongebob Squarepants _movie. Those were good times but she was now an adult and it sucked. She waited for Erkin to dive in after her before she looked around.

The ocean blue blocked her vision so she couldn't see any more than three feet in front of her. What made things difficult was that Erkin was wearing a blue diving suit that matched the color of the seawater they're swimming in. She followed Erkin as he dived deeper because this was his home turf and he was somewhat familiar with where to go.

It's been a while since Cassie went scuba diving and she was shivering. Not from the cold water but from the unknown threats that could be lurking in the water. Sharks, piranhas, jellyfish, poison algae!

Cassie snapped out of her panicking thoughts when she saw Erkin's silhouette swimming down deeper. She followed him, taking careful strokes to match his pace. When she swam deep enough, she felt a pressure building up in her eyes and it made her wish she was chewing gum.

_Can't chew gum with a snorkeler in my mouth,_ she told herself.

She picked up the strokes until she was several feet away (or above) Erkin. His swimming paste had slowed down and Cassie checked her oxygen gauge.

_Seventy-five percent in the green zone, not bad._

She jumped and almost lost her breath when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She calmed down when she saw it was only Erkin whose swimming ceased completely. He holds up his hand and points out something below them. Cassie had to zoom in before she saw the ruins.

_The Tomb of Ostanes the Persian. I can't believe it,_ Cassie almost gasped and would've drowned but she remembered and bit down hard on her snorkeler.

Erkin turned to her and held up a thumb as if saying 'We did it'.

_Thumbs up, we did it indeed,_ she thought. _Time for some deep-sea salvaging that only the pros can do._

They swim towards the ruins, which consisted of a tomb that was still intact even years after sinking. Nature had overgrown the tomb on the roof and the walls but on the sides. There was a fallen pillar on the ground in front of the door which is evidence that the tomb was suffering decay from over the years. The two young people swam up to the large door, identical to the Tomb of Hermes and they looked for a way to open it.

They grabbed two large door handles and used all their strength. It was a bit of a problem because Cassie was the one who had the upper body strength while Erkin was lazy and skinny as a stick. But every yank and pull of the door helped because the door budged and creaked.

Cassie shooed Erkin away so she could pull open the right door herself by yanking it like a car. The door slowly but surely opens, the water pressuring putting up a fight to keep it closed. When it was open about one-fourth of the way, she contemplated whether she could squeeze in with her oxygen tank. She decided against it but Erkin grabbed her shoulder again.

He made hang signs for her to go in while he stayed here. He wasn't proficient in sign language like Cassie was with Derek but she still got the message nevertheless. She opened the door slightly more before she squeezed herself in. Erkin used all his strength to hold the door so Cassie wouldn't get sandwiched.

Cassie squeezed herself in and she looked around. The Tomb of Ostanes the Persian's interior was identical to the Tomb of Hermes. She reached for the journal tucked in her harness with the waterproof pencil attached to the spine. She draws a quick concept art of the tomb before putting the journal back and swimming forward.

She was expecting a door leading to the alchemist's lab but like the Tomb of Hermes, it was barricaded. This time, it was barricaded by a fallen pillar and the only inch of the entrance was too small for Cassie to fit through. This called for Plan B, rathole duty. She swam from side to side of the wall and looked for a rathole. She couldn't find a single rathole but there was this feeling nagging at her from behind.

She looked behind to answer this nagging feeling's call. Nothing.

_It's just your imagination, Cassie._

She turned back to continue the search when that nagging feeling returned. She answered again but like before, nothing.

_What the hell is going?_ She felt the hairs on her forearm spike up and her fingers shivered. She reached towards the underwater pistol and cocked it back. _Just in case._

She turned her back but kept her head looking over her shoulder. This time, she answered her nagging call before it came and she saw a glimpse of something swimming before it disappeared into the invisibility of the blue water. It was only for a brief second but it resembled a fin. Granted, she was in the ocean, and fish were notorious for fins and tails but what godforsaken fish has a six-foot-long tail!

Cassie let out a gasp which also let out air bubbles. She covers her mouth with her right hand and with her left hand, aims the gun in the direction the tail was seen.

_Shark...there's a shark...in the Baltic Sea!_


	14. 47 Meters Down

Cassie's initial reaction was panic. She pressed her back against the wall but the oxygen tank prevented her back from connecting. Through the thick colors of the water, she could see the giant fish swimming around the front door to the tomb and wondered if it had found another way in or had been living in there the entire time. Either way, Cassie knew she was in danger. She aims her handgun in the direction of the incoming fish, getting bigger and bigger as it swam towards her. She pulled the hammer and readied herself and…

_A basking shark,_ she realized, _It's a basking shark._

Basking sharks were the second biggest sharks of existence (third if you take the Megalodon into account) and like the Whale Shark, they are gentle giants and this basking shark was an infant with a fin six-feet-long. They don't attack humans but caution should still be exercised around them.

Once Cassie realized that she got hysterical for no reason, she tucked her pistol away before turning back to her task. The basking shark swam off, not seeing Cassie as a threat. She put her hands all over the walls to feel for any loose spots and she moved from left to right. She thought she would have to do this throughout the whole of the interior before she found a loose spot.

_Jackpot._

Cassie's hands remained on this one spot and she loosened the rock from the wall. She felt like a dog digging when she began removing all the loose pieces of the wall from the wall. She spent about three or four minutes digging a hole that her heart was starting to pump from the exercise. Adrenaline was the fuel to her fight or flight response. When cornered, she burns her brain calories to think of a way out, and adrenaline is nothing but a spare set of fuel for her to use.

When all the loose parts came free, a rathole presented itself in front of her and there was a blue light at the end of the rathole.

_Hot diggity dog,_ she thought. She instinctively looks over her shoulder for the missing basking shark before she dives in. She takes careful strokes to reach the end and checks her oxygen level.

_Sixty-eight in the light green zone. Warn Joshua when I'm in the yellow zone and get out of here when I'm in the red zone._

Cassie jerked back like someone was tugging her from behind. She turned around and realized that she was still connected via a winch and it was preventing her from swimming forward. She tugged on the rope twice and waited ten seconds before tugging twice again. Neither tugs of war had effects which meant that Joshua and Derek did not realize she needed more slack.

_No problem,_ she thought, _I've always been a risk-taker and what's the worse that can happen?_

She detached the winch from her harness but she kept a hold on it. She tugged one more time to see if the duo on the boat got the message but it never went through.

_I leave the winch behind._

She dropped the end of the winch and watched it fall to the ground. She swam farther down the rathole. The pressure was starting to change, no longer did her ears feel like they were going to pop like a balloon. The pressure decreased as she swam deeper, ironically.

The temperature of the water started to take a warmer approach and it excited Cassie that she might be closer to her destination. She reached the end of the rathole and swam through a large opening that took her out of the rathole and floating above a lab looking identical to the previous.

_Bingo, Jackpot, Hallelujah._

Cassie swims to the bottom, knowing what to expect because this lab was an exact copy to Hermes Tri-Something's lab, almost like his lab was copy and pasted here. There was the table in the center with the alchemy symbol meaning silver and there were several bookshelves on the side that had been nailed down and the books were positioned firmly side by side so they wouldn't float away as they could.

She swam towards the bookshelf and she looked for the ones that read steps in Latin. Step one, step two, step three, step four. All four present and account for and she pulls out Ostanes the Persian's book, step three. The book was heavy and almost slipped from her hands but she kept a tight grip and opened it to the first page. Even underwater, the paper looked as dry as a rock in the desert.

She swam to the table and set it flat down on the 'surface'. She took out her waterproof journal and took notes.

_It's truly amazing, _she thought. _They had waterproof books back then and it took humanity until the year 2021 to officially distribute waterproof journals._

She scribbled down what she could find. She was constantly flipping through notes on the Voynich Manuscript before going back to what she managed to record from Hermes Tri-Something's book. She took about two or three notes from the book before she spotted something out of the ordinary.

_Ys._

The name, Ys, appeared on multiple pages and it took Cassie two times to spot it.

_What is Ys?_ She spots a name in the journal. _Gradlon…_ then her eyes widen as an idea comes into her head. _The Philosopher's Stone is hidden in the city, Ys. _

_If my theory is correct, then this means that King Gradlon was an alchemist and the story about Ys sinking in France is a real story. This means that if the Philosopher's Stone is in Ys, then the Philosopher's Stone and Ys are both in France, underwater. I've found the missing piece to the puzzle and it's time to get out of here._

Cassie turned the book to the original position but out of sheer curiosity, she looked through the books belonging to Nicolas Flamel and his wife. As expected, they were both blanks. And when she swam through the rathole, she noticed that the winch was gone.

_Erkin is probably yanking my winch,_ Cassie thought, _I got all I need so I'll meet up with him outside._

She swims forward and out the other side of the rathole. She remembered the direction the front door was and swam towards it. She reaches the front door and prepares to squeeze through before noticing that the door was closed. She mentally curses and pounds on the door. Soundwaves travel faster underwater (or so she thinks) and Erkin should be opening the door in no time. Then she remembered that Erkin Yura was the laziest adventurer and he could not pull the door open if his life depended on it and pushing a large door open underwater would be harder.

She felt a change of vibration behind her and slightly jumped before remembering the basking shark. Her adrenaline slowed down and she turned around as a reassurance that it was nothing...but it was nothing.

The top half of the basking shark was floating in the water. Its tail was missing and blood was pooling around its body.

_This is not nothing!_

Cassie pushes against the door with her shoulder, not caring whether the water pressure would be a factor. Whatever ate that infant basking shark was still around and bigger. That smell would drive the predator here and then the predator would notice Cassie and eat her.

She exhausted herself trying to open the door and wondered if this unseen predator is what caused Erkin to pull the winch and flee to safety. If that was the case, then Erkin was the most treacherous adventurer she ever met. As soon as she found him…

Her head instinctively looked up towards the ceiling, where she saw a human-shaped figure floating. She could not make out the shape because the body appeared to match the color of the water-

_Oh, Erkin was wearing a blue diving suit._

Erkin put a finger to his mouth in a shushing gesture. Cassie quickly got the message to be quiet but did not understand why. She decided to slowly swim to meet Erkin at the top. When she reached him, she used sign language to communicate with him, despite knowing that Erkin did not know sign language. He grabbed both of Cassie's hands and nodded towards the half-eaten shark. He points down to prove his point to Cassie.

The largest hammerhead shark she had ever seen swam slowly and threateningly through the remains of the basking shark.

Now Cassie knew why Erkin was cowering in fear. He was the laziest adventurer ever so he could never have the physical endurance required to escape a giant man-eating shark.

_What is that thing doing here? How did it break in and why did it eat the basking shark? Unless it is getting ready to give birth and kill a threat. Either way, we have to get out of here. Sharks can't open doors so we just find where the shark came in from and we're out._

When the hammerhead shark disappeared, Cassie reluctantly swam down. She grabbed Erkin by the hand and nodded, which was a way of saying it's okay. He hesitated but took her hand. The two of them swam down to the bottom and avoided the basking shark's guts floating in the water. She looked in the direction she saw the hammerhead shark swim in and swam in the opposite. She and Erkin swam through a large hole in the wall that Cassie failed to notice from earlier. When she swam through, she was in another room but this room looked more like a kitchen for cooking food.

_What is this, a medieval kitchen?_

She didn't spend too much time in one spot. She made sure Erkin was behind her before she grabbed his hand and led him through the kitchen. There was another opening on the wall opposite and they swam through it. They weren't taken to another room this time but a cave. It was a narrow cave similar to the rat hole but there was barely any room to squeeze through. She wondered how the hammerhead shark could've fit before deducing that debris fell after the hammerhead shark's entrance. Which meant the shark was trapped with them.

She moves the debris out of the way, yanking it out of the hole and throwing it to the ground in the kitchen. Erkin gave her a helping hand and about two minutes later, they had all the small rocks moved out of the way. Cassie calculated her volume of the area and compared it to the cave. Erkin may have been lazy and skinny as a twig but he had a better chance of squeezing through.

_One of the few times in life I regret being in muscular shape._

Cassie nodded to Erkin.

Erkin swam through the opening without a second thought. Cassie contemplated her next move. She looked over her shoulder at nothing and thought of the hammerhead shark, which could circle and eat her. She couldn't allow it. She dived in and squeezed her body through the narrow cave.

Sixty seconds later, the pressure in her ear returns to normal, like she was back in normal waters. Upon this feeling, she swam faster if she could and it didn't take long before she found herself climbing headfirst out of the cave and back into the ocean where she first jumped in.

_Yes, regular shitty ocean water. Just what I needed after that exploration._

She spots Erkin who swims up to her. He gives her the thumbs up before pointing up with the same thumb. Cassie understood and the two of them swam to the surface.

All they knew was to go up and without the winches, they could not navigate exactly where to go. The closer they got to the surface, the pressure in their ears slowly faded from existence.

They finally surfaced and Cassie takes a deep breath of fresh air through her snorkeler. Air had never tasted better before, but it would've tasted better if they could spot the boat.


	15. A Monster

"How long will it be until the drug takes effect?" Harris asked the two illusionists as they sat on the boat. He noticed Marcel was laughing excitedly. "What's so funny."

"It should take effect already," he answered, "The drug Pavel and I contaminated the water with is an advanced hallucinogen that not even snorkelers could block off. The drug is waterborne and affects a person's sight. The first thing they'll be seeing a shark of some kind. I had my brother, a chemist, design it so they will see a harmless shark of some kind, and subconsciously, this harmless shark will be one they've encountered from their past. I know this because Cassie Drake was born in Hawaii so she must've had some encounters with sharks. Then, she'll start seeing a dangerous shark that could vary widely from a great white shark to a tiger shark, depending on what dangerous shark she encountered in her past. They'll be hesitant to leave the tomb out of fear and when they reach the open ocean, the hallucinogen will start taking effect once more.

They'll face a dangerous creature that not even I am capable of knowing what it is. This fake creature will be chasing them throughout the ocean and they'll panic and most likely suffer from cardiac arrest if their bodies believe they're being eaten. It's simple physics when you think of it."

"I knew I was correct in posting that Wikipedia entry," Harris said, "About the Tomb of Ostanes the Persian being at this site. But that one person, Erkin Yura, was already aware of the Tomb."

"Physically, he's no threat," Marcel said, "He lacks the physical strength so he should be easy to overpower. Chances are since Drake is the more seasoned treasure hunter, he'll rely on her to get him out of there."

"If our calculations are correct," Pavel began, "Then the drug will wear off in two hours, and based on our inference, the oxygen tanks will decrease as time passes and they'll increase the effects of the hallucinogen. That artificial air from the tank, once it reaches a certain level and said diver is still underwater, they'll start experiencing hallucinations of their own. That combined with our hallucinogen drug will cause all their brain cells to die off, that is if their imagination doesn't kill them with cardiac arrest."

"But we shouldn't underestimate them," Harris said, "We already knew where they would be going but things could spin out of control on a dime. I have the original book with me but in the event that I lost the original, I made a spare and placed it in the Tomb of Ostanes the Persian. I now regret it.

They're seasoned so, therefore, they know how to escape conventional situations with their wits. I also did some digging, Drake's father, Nathan Drake, experienced something similar during his adventure in the Rub al' Khali desert when looking for Iram of the Pillars. Hallucinogen, no different than yours, Djinn, demons, could've died of cardiac arrest."

"He still escaped," Pavel said, "His daughter could take after him."

"We have the upper hand should Drake and Erkin resurface or even figure out they're experiencing a hallucinogen." He nodded his head towards the two hogtied prisoners gagged and struggling. "We have Lowell and Hale."

* * *

Cassie and Erkin had surfaced but the boat was nowhere in sight. They did three-sixty scans but the waves bobbing up and down obscured their visions.

Cassie took off her goggles and snorkel, Erkin doing the same.

"What the hell are they?" Cassie asked.

"I have no idea," he said, "It would be easier if we had the winch but I had to drop it in order to escape the shark."

"I had to drop it in order to swim deeper," Cassie said, "I tried tugging on the winch in hopes that Joshua would extend it but it's like he wasn't on the boat to answer."

"I did the same thing and he didn't bother tugging me to the surface. Maybe something happened."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Cassie said, "Out here, there could be pirates. Especially when an ancient tomb like Ostanes the Persian is on Wikipedia." Her eyes widened and breath left her.

Erkin looked at her with a curious look and narrowed his eyes at her. To him, she looked like a fish out of water...ironically. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"When was that Wikipedia entry posted?"

Erkin hesitated to answer. "You would have to ask Derek because he looked up the entry."

"Was there a Wikipedia entry when you were about to unearth this project with your marine archeology crew?"

Erkin thought for a moment before he said his answer. "No, it was totally off the book and only a handful of people knew about it. Myself included. I used my expertise skills in computers to check if it was authentic. It was an authentic post, the information authentic as well, but the date of entry was recent."

_Is it possible,_ Cassie thought, _Could the Wikipedia entry be a fake? I don't have a waterproof cellphone but I need to look up the Tomb of Ostanes the Persian. If it was posted like Erkin says it was, then my suspicions are confirmed._

"It doesn't matter, we have to get back to the boat," she said.

"How are we going to find it?" Erkin asked.

Cassie was about to say something before she thought back to the Tomb of Hermes Tri-Something.

_In the Tomb of Hermes Tri-Something, I heard three footsteps when climbing out of the rathole. Given the fact that they threw a grenade containing a hallucinogen, they were actually acolytes of Vita Longa. They tried killing us while we were in a hallucination state. Could that have been the case right now? Is it possible that we were drugged without knowing it? It would be impossible to know for sure unless we found the boat. But if we were drugged with the same hallucinogen underwater, then what are we supposed to hallucinate? The basking shark, the hammerhead, they could've been fake but what about the hole we swam out of? And if this tomb was set up by Vita Longa as a trap, why was Ostanes's book left behind?_

Cassie felt something grab her leg and she went underwater without her snorkel and goggles on. She thrust her hands forward to resurface but only succeeding in getting her forehead above water. She screamed for Erkin but only air bubbles came out. Erkin was yanked underwater with her but he put up less of a fight. Cassie looked and saw him get tugged downward. She grabbed his hand before he was out of reach but she ended up going down with him. She struggled and panicked to keep what air she still had stored in her mouth.

Erkin's attempts to get free eventually ceased and his thrashing slowed to a stop. Cassie's struggles also ceased and she used this opportunity to calm down. She grabbed both of Erkin's hands and they slowly swam up to the surface together.

_Air never tasted fresher than it already had._

"Air has never tasted then it already has," Cassie spoke her mind. She put the snorkel back to her mouth, not taking any chances. "We should've brought a radio," she says, her speech muffled by the snorkel. Erkin had followed his example and he heard what Cassie said by nodding as confirmation.

"What pulled me under?" Erkin asked.

"I don't know," Cassie answered, "It pulled me under as well. It could be the shark but it didn't feel like shark teeth."

"So it wasn't the hammerhead," Erkin concluded, "What's next, the Loch Ness Monster?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Cassie said, "The Loch Ness Monster is in Scotland."

"Could it have been a Megalodon?" Erkin jokes.

_Oh no, I've encountered a Meg before, and I've seen the movie. At the very least, they could've done better. And why did they have to kill Dwight off in that movie?_

_Just to be safe…_

Cassie goes down with her pistol in hand.

_I'll take this threat head-on. Plus, if this is a hallucination as I suspect then I should be alright._

She moves away from Erkin and scans the body of water around her for any signs of a potential threat. She waves the gun from left to right before doing a one-eighty and left to right again. She leaves no blindspots up, down, left, or right.

_The 'coast' is clear, so far._

Cassie swims up to the surface but suddenly freezes. She saw a huge tail wave in front of her and it was the size of the Iron Giant's arm.

_Is that what I think it is, it better not be._

The big fish with the big tail swam away and down. It circled Cassie from below before coming directly underneath Cassie.

_No...no...no…_

The big shark swam up and opened its mouth as wide as a giant manhole.

_Meg…_

Cassie points the gun and shoots. The shark didn't react to the two bullets and got closer, mouth getting wider and wider.

_No, this can't be happening...I'm going to die...I'm going to be eaten by a Megalodon. Just perfect. I've lived my entire life, I've done dozens of adventures before, survived everything thrown at me and now I'm going to be eaten-_


	16. Sneaking On The Boat

_What's taking so long,_ Derek wondered as he struggled to break free of his bonds. He tried spitting the gag out of his mouth but it proved to be futile. He was caught off guard when three cultists of Vita Longa had been on the boat this entire time and they hiding inside the boat. Joshua, despite having military training, was overpowered by the two cultists who initiated the illusion. Derek and Joshua were stuffed in the cabin of the boat and they both continued to struggle. They knew that the three cultists were outside and waiting for Cassie and Erkin but he didn't know what their plans were exactly.

_Why hadn't they killed us on board?_

Derek looked at Joshua, hogtied with an apple as a gag in his mouth. Derek arches his eyebrows as a silent communication before nodding towards the wheel of the boat. Joshua followed his gaze and nodded. Both of them wiggled their bodies to crawl forward towards the wheel. Neither one had a plan in mind but it was at least something to work with. Crawl to the wheel and figure something out from there. They could steer the boat and knock the three cultists in the water. Or they could somehow drive the boat away.

_But if my suspicions are correct, Cassie could be swimming in the lab, and driving the boat away with her attached to the winch could rip her in two._

Joshua grunted softly for Derek to hear. When Derek looked, Joshua was nodding at the glove apartment just above his head. Derek spotted it and smiled through his gag.

_Perfect,_ Derek thought, _There has to be some kind of knife inside._

Derek, on his stomach, arches his back and sits upon his knees. The glove compartment was at his face level and he could lift the handle if he turned around.

Focusing all of his power in his kneecaps and below, he pushes himself to his feet from his knees and stands up straight and stiff. He quickly turns and opens the glove compartment. Unfortunately, something heavy fell out with a loud thud that made him jump.

_Shit, they'll have heard that._

He closes up the glove compartment and looks down to see what fell out. A spare gun. Derek quickly drops to his knees before laying on his side to grab the gun and quickly tuck it in the back of his pants and hide the grip with the hem of his shirt.

"Looking for a clue cause you don't have one?"

Derek's head snapped towards a cultist with dirty blonde hair standing in the doorway. The cultists had a smile on his face and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hmm," Derek mumbled through the gag.

"Looking for a clue cause you don't have one?" Harris repeated. "I really do apologize for the treatment but this is necessary," he said, "To be honest, I don't want to kill you but it's my job. I don't want to kill you first, however, I want Cassie Drake to die first then I'll kill you second."

"Hmm," Derek groaned.

Harris tilted his head with interest. "Why don't we just kill you now," he mocked, "Because, we anticipated you and Cassie to be swimming down. We wanted to ambush Joshua and Erkin on board but since you stayed behind while Cassie and Erkin went down under, that means we have to change our tactics. We have both a weak and strong hostage onboard which makes things easier considering that the weak and strong adventurer went down under to grab Ostanes's book. Don't worry, I promise I won't kill you right now. To be honest, I wanted you and Cassie to die together. Unlike most people, I believe in honor. I can tell by the way Cassie was carrying you out of the tomb and by the way you look at her that you're in love with Cassie. You have feelings for her."

This hit Derek close to home. Yes, he was aware that he had feelings for Cassie but for some villain to acknowledge it in front of him, that did not work well with him. Harris did not deserve to say that Derek had feelings for Cassie and in the mind of Derek, Harris has earned the right to die.

_Also,_ Harris though, _I know you took the gun from the glove compartment_.

* * *

Cassie sighed through her snorkel and opened her mouth.

_I did it,_ she thought, _I've broken the spell._

The Megaladon that was about to eat her had dissipated into nothingness like bleach.

_I knew the Meg was an illusion, bullets don't just disappear, pass through a shark without leaving some wounds behind. No doubt that this is the work of Vita Longa. And if that's the case, Vita Longa is nearby, possibly on the boat with Derek and Joshua._

Cassie swims up to the surface, Erkin was waiting for her.

"You were shooting at what down there?" Erkin asked.

"It was nothing but an illusion," Cassie answered, "Vita Longa is here. We have to find the boat."

"How could Vita Long have found us? They didn't track us through satellite did they?"

"No," Cassie said, "They're probably already on the boat. If we're lucky, they didn't kill Derek nor Joshua."

_What?_ Erkin thought, _Joshua, dead? I have to find that boat and save him._

Cassie grabbed Erkin by the shoulder and pulled him closer. "We have to find the boat, where could it be?"

"I don't know?" Erkin said, "I panicked when I saw the shark and dropped the winch."

"But the shark was a hallucination," Cassie said before the wonderful idea came back, "The winch!"

"What are you talking about?" Erkin asked, "You mean the winches we dropped?" he caught on. He may be lazy but he's not stupid. "The winch that we dropped, they could still be a the bottom so if we want to find the boat we follow the winch."

"Correct," Cassie nodded, "You're a twig but a smart one." _How can a skinny person have such a heavy brain on the top?_

Cassie swims under after she gets her goggles and snorkel ready. She waits for lazy boy Erkin to catch up to her as they dive under. She remembers the path to take to get back to the ruins. It was just as they left it: Ruins in ruins. She swims towards the front door, the one they struggled to pull open earlier and she worked her way down to find the winch. The one Erkin dropped but if memory served her correct, she left her winch in the rathole and when she swam back, it was gone. Then again, it could've been under the influence of the hallucinogen. Then again, she had her winch with her when the basking shark showed up.

_Could the winch still be in the rathole and I missed it because of the illusion? One is all I'll need regardless. But even so, if Erkin and I both lost our winches, they probably aren't down there and the boat left. So everything is riding on us finding those winches._

Cassie swims to the bottom of the floor and searches around the rocks at the bottom. She felt something sticking out of place and upon touching it again, it felt like metal.

_Bingo, jackpot, hallelujah once again._

She grips the winch with all her might and gives it a yank. She follows the trail into the distance and realizes that it was still hanging in the air in one place, which means that the winch hadn't been disconnected and the boat had not taken off. She looks at Erkin and she cocks her head in a way that said, 'Follow me'.

The two cling onto the rope and hand over hand, climb the rope. They were just using it as a guide but they followed the rope wherever it leads them and the farther they went, the higher they went.

After climbing up the rope for another two minutes, the end of the boat was spotted. Or, as they said in _Finding Nemo_, the butt of the boat was in sight.

Not taking any chances, she pulls out her gun and climbs across the rope with one hand, keeping her visibility from the surface nearly invisible. Once she figured she was close to the surface, she let go of the rope. She gestured for Erkin to wait while she did a quick recon of the boat, staying just below the surface to see if she could spot anyone. From below the surface, the boat was as clean as a diamond.

She slowly swam up to the surface and stuck only her forehead up so that she could see just above the surface. No one present on the boat, as empty as a boat in the Bermuda Triangle.

She held up her gun and slowly swam towards the side of the boat and reached for the rail. She carefully clung on and yanked herself up with one hand and hopped over the rail. She cringed as she realized that the water dripping from her and back into the ocean was louder then she expected.

Cassie removed her oxygen tank and pressed her back to the wall. She removed the snorkel and goggles and put them on the ground carefully. She moves across the floor, keeping her back to the wall and finger on the trigger, ready to pull it if the situation calls for it. She crosses a window leading into the cabin and she takes a peek.

Inside, Derek was hogtied with a gag in his mouth, Joshua on the floor a few feet behind him. She watched him climbed to his feet from his knees and take out something from a glove compartment. There was hope except for something heavy fell out and made even Cassie flinch from the sound.

Luckily, Derek was able to close the glove compartment, grab the heavy object that fell out (a gun) and get back down on his stomach but someone came in the cabin. Cassie ducked her head but she relaxed once she realized he didn't have a gun with him. He said something to Derek that she couldn't hear but it was obvious that she was not going to wait any longer. She moves across the deck and sneaks up on the man.

She pulls the hammer on the gun back and holds it up to the back of his head.

"What's this," Cassie said, "A party and I wasn't invited?"

Harris groaned under his breath and let out a deep breath. He growls in annoyance before a smile forms across his face that Cassie couldn't see but Derek could.

Derek tries speaking through his gag but it came out inaudible. He noticed Harris's smile and tried to warn the young girl.

"I'm happy to see me too, Derek," Cassie said, "But I'm busy right now."

"I wouldn't be so arrogant if I were you," Harris said suddenly, "You're outnumbered."

_Huh,_ Cassie thought, _What's he up to?_ "I don't have the slightest clue as to what you're talking about but it's not going to work." _And honestly, I was expecting more to do onboard. Given his confident tone, there must be others on board. This is a small boat but how they got on board, I have no clue. Unless they used an illusion to conceal their presence. It wouldn't surprise me._

"Penny for your thoughts," Harris said.

"I want you to untie Joshua and Derek from their bonds and don't waste too much time; your hair is too soft to ruin."

"I'd watch your back if I were you," Harris said, "Who knows who could suddenly appear right beside you."

Cassie was prepared with a snappy comeback but it never came because she felt the barrel of a gun jam into her left temple. She looked to her left and saw a man with dark hair pressing a gun to her head.

_I missed him but how?_

She looks to her right and a man suddenly appears out of nowhere, literally. He went from being invisible to visible right in front of her eyes.


	17. Universal Balance

_What the hell, these two guys just appeared out of nowhere like the Invisible Man._

She now had two barrels jammed on either side of her temples and pressing against her skull like a compressor. Harris raised his hands up mockingly and turned around to face Cassie personally for the first time.

"With a snap of my fingers," Harris began, "I could have you killed in less than a second."

_Please don't kill me,_ "Then get it over with," Cassie said with determination. "I still have my gun aimed in your face."

"And you are literally trapped between a rock and a hard place," Harris countered. He grabbed the barrel of Cassie's gun and yanked it out of her hand. "I'll take this."

Cassie slowly raised up her hands peacefully but it was difficult while standing between two people. She raised her hands up to her chest.

"Kill her," Harris said with his back turned, "But at the position you guys are standing in, make sure you don't kill each other."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Marcel said to Cassie's left.

"Let's adjust our aim," Pavel said, "I'll aim for her heart and you shoot her head."

"Sounds fun, bro," Marcel laughed.

The 'bros' lined their guns up in their respective positions: Marcel up to Cassie's forehead and Pavel to Cassie's heart.

_If I take one out then the other will kill me,_ Cassie analyzed, _I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. But then again, I still have an ace in the hole. However, Erkin is lazy and lacks any form of combat training. He claims to have played soccer and football with his siblings but I failed to ask HOW LONG._

Both guns were cocked.

_I'm going to die…._

A gunshot went off and Cassie expected eternal oblivion but nothing came.

A bullet ricocheted off the wall inches beside Pavel who almost pulled the trigger out of reflex but he kept himself in check. Pavel turns and fires out to sea at the unseen threat. He aimed for the way and fired off several shots.

_Erkin, he had a gun._

Cassie smacks Marcel's gun over the railings into the sea and butts him in the head with her head.

_Easy…_

Marcel grabs Cassie by the head and hammers it into the wall with such force that her head bounced.

_Maybe I underestimated him._

Marcel punches Cassie in the stomach and causes her to double over. He grabs her by the back and throws her to the ground. He doesn't miss a beat and climbs on top of her. He produces a knife from his holster and thrusts it towards Cassie.

Cassie grabs with both hands to keep the knife from driving into her throat.

In the cabin, Harris spots Pavel's target for him.

Derek and Joshua crawl towards the wheel.

Erkin swam under the boat to crawl on the other side. He climbed up the same railing that Cassie did but it was a struggle for him since he lacked Cassie's physical strength.

Once Erkin was on board, he laid his oxygen tank right next to Cassie's and he moved across the deck to the back. He peers in through the window to see Harris, Derek, and Joshua. It was seeing Joshua tied that hurt him the most. He moved a few feet away from the window and saw Cassie on the floor with Marcel on top of her trying to stab her. That wouldn't do for him. He couldn't stand losing a good friend. He raises the gun and prepares to fire but another voice catches him off guard.

"NO!" Pavel shouted and raised his pistol. He shot the pistol out of Erkin's hands and into the ocean. Erkin retreated while Pavel chased after him on a bloodthirsty rampage.

Cassie could not fight off this man, he was physically stronger then she and the knife was getting closer and closer to her throat. If only a miracle could happen, if only Derek could save her with that gun.

_This is probably a universal balance. I saved Derek in the tomb now he is to save me. Even if that wasn't the case, every time I've saved Derek he returned the favor. All of this will work out._

Erkin ran to the front of the boat but Pavel arrived from the other side and held him at gunpoint.

"Kill all of them," Harris ordered.

Joshua, having crawled to Harris's feet, spat the apple out of his mouth and he bit Harris down on the foot.

With Cassie being overpowered by Marcel, Erkin held at gunpoint by Pavel and Harris being stalled by Joshua the Rabid Dog, the only one left unaccounted for was Derek.

Derek was at the wheel of the boat and he knew what he had to do. He was already standing on his feet and he knew the timing was critical. He tried slipping his fingers through the ropes but it was futile so he just went for it.

He threw his body on the control panel and pushed the lever forward with his shoulder. This caused the boat engine to start up and he stomped his foot on the pedal with every ounce of weight on his left foot.

The boat took off instantly at high speed.

Marcel flew off of Cassie but the knife remained in his hand. Both Erkin and Pavel lost their balance just as Pavel was about to pull the trigger. Harris fell to the floor and Joshua climbed on top of him. Derek planted his right foot behind him to maintain balance.

Cassie charges at Marcel from her knees and punches on him like a dog. They both get up to their feet after he kicks her away and he holds the knife with the blade downward.

_Given the way he's holding that knife,_ Cassie analyzed, _he's skilled with the knife. I have to be careful._

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to run with a knife?" Cassie quips.

"Don't talk about my mother," Marcel snarled.

"Why? Did I hit a sore spot or something?" Cassie mocked, "Did you know that my mother used to be a treasure hunter? My blonde hair comes from her."

"Be careful what you say," Marcel said, "I can teleport right behind you and stab you in the back."

"I'd like to see that happen," Cassie said.

"How about I show you?" a voice whispered in her left ear from behind.

Cassie turned and punched behind her out of instinct before discovering that no one was there and her back had been turned. She turns back and grabs Marcel's knife-wielding hand just in time.

"I'm an illusionist," Marcel said with a grunting voice as he pushed the knife forward, "But a magician can't reveal his tricks."

Cassie kicked him in the groin. Marcel grunted in pain and lost force behind his attacks but didn't budge. Cassie realized this and instead kicked him in the stomach. He moved back slightly and allowed for Cassie to wrap her forearms around his arm with the knife in it and flip him down Judo style. She wraps her forearms tightly around his forearm and twists his hand.

Marcel screams in agony and drops the knife. Cassie kicks it off the boat and moves away from Marcel.

The man with the broken arm sits on his knees and clutches his broken forearm.

"You broke my arm," he cried. He sobbed, at first. His sobs slowly turned to laughs like when curtains descended and he moved his right arm. He waves his right hand as it had never been broken.

_How is that possible? It's like his arm was never broken, to begin with._

"As I said, a magician can't reveal his tricks," he said. "But I'll reveal this." And he pulls out a knife, the same one that Cassie kicked overboard. "This is _my_ knife and the one that you kicked overboard was your underwater pistol."

Cassie's eyes widened.

"That's the look I wanted to see," Marcel smiled deviously, "When I was attacking you at first, it really was with my knife. When the boat suddenly accelerated like it is right now, I lost my grip on the knife but your gun from earlier came sliding towards me, I figured Harris dropped it when he lost balance. I tried shooting you but the magazine was empty."

_I'm very lucky that Erkin saved my life. And had I not seen that hallucination of the meg, I never would've fired off a couple of bullets. So in a way, these illusionists saved my life._

"I used my magic tricks to get you into seeing that it was actually my knife instead of your underwater gun and you believed it."

"Can you please explain how you did the arm thing? How your broken arm healed?"

Marcel gestured behind her. Cassie was half-tempted to ignore him but curiosity got the better of her and she risked only one second to look behind her. A pipe laid on the ground.

"I switched my arm with a pipe when I was on the ground and I used an illusion to get you into believing it was my arm."

"But it felt so real."

"Once I can manipulate one sense of the body, I can manipulate the other senses as well. At the end of the day, they're just tricks." Marcel's smile widened. "Maybe I made sure that your hands were touching my flesh so you would be fooled." He moved forward with his knife, ready to strike and knowing what to expect from when he faked Cassie's gun as his knife.

He slashes the knife at her. Cassie uses her quick reflexes to dodge the slash and punch him across the face. Marcel retaliated by delivering a roundhouse kick to her face. She jerked her head back but he managed to cut the fabric of her diving suit...right between her breasts. It wasn't that big of a cut but it was big enough to show some skin.

"I was trying to cut you," Marcel said, "But I did not mean for that to happen."

_Is that his weird way of apologizing or something? He can repay me by jumping off this boat._

Marel went for another slasher's combo which Cassie dodged once again. This time, she grabbed his knife hand again and bit it. There would be no tricks this time. If she can taste his flesh then it would be the real thing and not a pipe.

Marcel yelled in pain and kneed Cassie in her chest. Cassie nearly choked before stepping back. She tasted blood in her mouth, which meant that she really did bite into the real Marcel.

"I got you this time!"

Marcel looked at his wounded arm, gazing down at the bite mark left by Cassie. He had a look on his face like he was studying the wound with curiosity but he was also cringing at the sight of blood. It was like he had two people controlling his emotions from the inside out.

"I don't like the sight of blood," Marcel said, "Just not the sight of my own blood." He turned to face her fully and he went charging for her. Cassie moved out of the way of the angry bull and put him in a sleeper hold. He tries to blindly stab at her but she moves out of the way, keeping a consistent pace to move to the left.

She elbows him in the head twice but this barely damages him. Instead of trying to stab her, he fakes trying to stab her when he actually grabs her hair with his free hand and yanks her over his shoulder and on the ground.

He throws the knife in the air to catch it with the knife pointing downward like it was. He uses both hands to push it down into Cassie once more. She used both hands to defend herself but Marcel had the strength because he was standing and she was on the ground.

"Any last words?" Marcel questioned.

"Don't look in the shoebox under my bed," Cassie said, "I have some things to throw out." She kicks Marcel in the face and kips up. When she turned, the knife was already inches from her face and there was nothing she could do to dodge in time.


	18. Deus ex machina

Derek slipped through the ropes and got his hands free. He ripped the gag from his mouth and he turned the wheel. The boat made a sharp right turn that almost made him fly to the side.

Marcel was only inches away from plunging the knife into Cassie when the boat suddenly jerked to the right and he went flying to the side. Cassie followed suit but she managed to grab hold of the railings. Marcel didn't have enough time and went falling over and into the water. He couldn't even climb back on board because the boat was already out of reach by the time he surfaced.

The boat jerked harder to the right again and Cassie flew over the railings and into the ocean.

Harris was still struggling with Joshua on top of him. He grabs the young pilot by the hair and kicks him back. Once Joshua was off of him for good, he jumps to his feet and kicks Joshua in the stomach.

Derke witnessed this attack from the window and steered the boat to the left. Harris collides with the wall before Derek does a sharp turn to the right. Harris staggers forward through the cabin door and falls over the railing and into the ocean.

The only pair left was Erkin and Pavel.

Erkin was no match for Pavel but that's what Pavel liked. Erkin was pathetic in his fight and tiring out easily compared to the experienced fighter. When the boat jerked to the left then right, Erkin and Pavel both lost their balance and went sliding across the deck. They went sliding towards the edge and Erkin slid against the rail while Pavel went sliding over and into the sea. However, Erkin still went sliding over the edge but Derek, being the fastest kid on the track team, sprinted out of the cabin and went to grab him before he went in the sea.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked as he yanked skinny Erkin away from the edge (which was easily done as it was said).

"I'm good," Erkin said.

"I thought you used to play sports with your siblings," Derek said.

"I did," Erkin said. _Only for a few days._

"Guys," Joshua called out, "A little help over here?"

Derek and Erkin ran and freed Joshua from his hogties.

"Where would you be without me," Erkin said, "You'd all be dead without me."

_Cassie,_ Derek thought before he screamed, "Where is Cassie?"

* * *

When Cassie had fallen overboard off the boat, she did fall in the water and she didn't have to time to grab onto the boat but something wrapped around her foot and yanked her along with the boat. She could not breathe because she was being dragged by the foot and water was getting in her nose at this angle. Her head kept submerging before surfacing and it was starting to exhaust her completely. Every second that passed with her being dragged by whatever rope was dragging her was taking a toll on her physical body.

She pulled herself up, bending forward to grab at her leg and feel for this rope that was yanking her. When she felt it, she realized what it had been.

_The winch caught my foot, thank goodness._

She grabbed the rope of the winch and she pulled herself forward like climbing up a rope. She does hand over hand but climbing across a rope against a boat going sixty or seventy miles per hour was unprecedented. She didn't see any reason to give up so she didn't give up.

The boat jerked a few times in both directions and she barely had time to react. She presses her fingers deeper into the rope to hang on and had to hold on the whole way before the boat went back on course at high speed. She reaches the end of the rope that was coming from over the railing. She grips onto a bar but she feels something connect to her leg and tries to drag her for a brief second. She almost lost her balance but she had enough upper body strength to hold her weight with one hand.

She didn't realize that Pavel hit her legs when he fell overboard.

Cassie climbs up over the railing and presses her back against the wall where she left her oxygen tank from earlier. The boat slowly slowed down and Cassie was finally able to catch her breath and get this lump of water out of her chest by coughing. She closes her eyes and dreams of being someplace warm with massages given out for free. She loved going on adventures but she missed Hawaii. She missed the warmth, her parents, the seafood, everything.

_Scuba diving was a little more dangerous than I last recall,_ she thought.

"Where is Cassie?" Derek's voice echoed on the boat from the opposite side.

_Derek, you always take care of me._ Cassie puts one hand on her knee and pushes herself up. She walks around the cabin to meet with the others on the opposite side.

"Missed me?" Cassie asked as she leaned against the wall.

"Cassie," Derek exclaimed with delight, "You're still alive."

"Of course," Cassie said, "I'm immortal."

Derek narrowed his eyes with a playful smile. "What happened to 'we're just humans' speech?"

"I've decided to redact what I said," she said. "That, and I've decided that someone should take a look at this." She pulls out her pocket-sized journal.

Derek took the journal for himself and he flipped through the pages.

"How did Vita Longa sneak on the boat?" asked Cassie. When she didn't hear an answer, she made an assumption. "Illusion?"

"Most likely," Derek answered, "How much information did you copy down?"

"Oh," Cassie smiled, "Everything we would've found in Hermes Tri-Something's tomb is in there. Not only that: The Philosopher's Stone is in the lost city of Ys, which is in France!"

Joshua and Erkin did not understand the silent smile exchange going between the two young adults.

"Swear to god," Derek told.

"I don't swear to god but yeah," Cassie said.

The two adventures hugged each other in joy.

* * *

The four of them had made it back to the mainland with all the information they had with them. They felt rich with information and their journal was their bank. Once they checked into a small motel, Joshua cleaned up whatever wounds the three received, even though he had a severely bloody nose from his hogtied fight with Harris.

Joshua and Erkin sat down on the bed with Erkin holding an ice pack to his lover's nose.

"You really got to be careful next time," Erkin said like he was scolding, "You'd be in deep waters had it not been for me."

"If I recall," Joshua said, "It was you who was underwater while we were on the board."

"I was making a joke," Erkin said, "You have no sense of humor." He kissed Joshua on the cheek. "But that's what I love about you."

Joshua returned the gesture. "If I was in the military, I would have to follow the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' rule."

"But you're not in the military," Erkin said, "You're in the safety of Dear Ol' Erkin Yura. When I told my brothers that I had a boyfriend, they said that I must've been on that American show, _Beyond Scared Straight,_ and fell for one of the prisoners."

"Is he a homophobe?" Joshua asked with some worry in his voice. "I wish not to meet your brother if he is a homophobe."

"Don't worry," Erkin reassured with a pat on his arm, "My brother isn't a homophobe anymore."

"But he was because you said 'anymore'?"

Erkin could sense the worry in his boyfriend's heart and he did the best to reassure him. "He is still something of a straight, white bigot but he has changed over the years. I've been waiting for you to meet my family for a long time. Sergei, Viktor, Anya, they're nice...to me. I think I'm getting special treatment because I'm gay and I kinda like it."

"Well," Joshua hesitated, "It is kinda fun getting treatment because you're different from other people. When I tell a waiter at a restaurant that I'm gay, for whatever reason, he pulls the chair out for me. And when I'm around my father, he questions my sexuality. Not out of the offense but because he is curious as to what a homosexual is like."

"And when I announce that I'm a gay around crowds of people, they don't bug me with 'Get a girlfriend' suggestions. They walk on eggshells around me and it feels empowering."

"It is fun sometimes," Joshua said, "Some people do question on if I'm born gay or if I choose to be gay."

"We gays don't really have a choice," Erkin said before winking, "We're 'Born This Gay'."

Joshua looked at him and upon replaying the sentence again in his head, he chuckled in amusement. "That was funny."

"See, we were meant for each other. I'm the funny fool and you're the serious stoic." He kisses him harder on the cheek. "Opposites attract."

Cassie and Derek sat a table in the corner and watched the loving exchange from over their shoulders. They looked at each other with smirks on their faces and chuckled.

"We have gay friends," Cassie said like it was the first time she said, "Cool."

"I know," Derek said, "We're diverse when we think about it. We have a friend Egypt, a gay British pilot and a Kazakstan scuba diver whose as lazy as they come."

"Don't forget about our friends in Turkey," Cassie reminded.

"That's right," Derek said, "They're religious."

"Let's stop talking about diversity and get back on topic," Cassie said firmly.

"Right," Derek nodded, "So Ys is the city built by the alchemists and that is where the Philosopher's Stone is. They said that King Gradlon the Great ruled that city and its made of marble, cedar, and gold. Honestly, I know what only one of those things is."

Cassie rubbed her forehead in annoyance. "This is the story of Ys: It was built by King Gradlon upon the request of his daughter, Dahut. It's said to be full of riches like gold and silver and the only way to enter the city was through a gate that can only be opened by a key made of gold and was in the hands of King Gradlon the entire time. One night, Dahut has been persuaded by her lover to open the gates to the city and steals the key from her father while she sleeps. She opens the door but because the city is built with a floodbank gate, the sea flooded the city from the inside-out and killed everyone. The king escaped but only after sacrificing his daughter to the sea. Legend has it that Dahut became a mermaid and is still swimming out at sea today."

"So by this logic," Derek began, "The alchemists built the city of Ys to hide the Philosopher's Stone inside and then put King Gradlon in charge?"

"King Gradlon was an alchemist," Cassie said, "Not surprised because his daughter was a sorceress."

"And by this logic, is it possible that the Philosopher's Stone is still in Ys? How do we know that the stone hadn't been removed ahead of time by the alchemists?"

"A lost city is a perfect place to hide a powerful weapon," Cassie answered, "Especially a lost city you created. Maybe Dahut was ordered by the alchemists to sink the city when they realized that Ys was getting close to being discovered. Either way, we now got a clear picture."

"And according to the legends, Ys in France?"

"Yes," Cassie said enthusiastically, "And according to the notes from Ostanes the Persian, it can only be unlocked by a key but the key is actually the color of gold itself. I have no idea what it means but in another entry, it mentions that there is a snake that guards Ys, even years after it sunk."

"Man," Derek grabbed his jaw, "Do we have an exact location?"

"Nope," she shook her head, "But Vita Longa will be there in France and since they already know where Ys is, all we have to do is do what the villains did to us previous years: Follow the treasure hunters."

_Looks like we're going to Paris,_ Cassie smiled.


	19. Paris

Paris, France

The next day arrived early and the four friends were in Paris, France. The city of love is what they called it, (at least that's what Cassie thinks) and Cassie believes it to be a fitting name. She was in a country full of clown ripoffs and real French toast with real French fries. The beautiful Eiffel tower was the first tourist sight the four of them went to and they climbed all the way up to the top.

They didn't exactly have to do anything right now because only Vita Longa knew where Ys was so all they had to do was wait for Vita Longa strike and capture one of them.

"Now this is a view you don't see every day," Cassie said to Derek as she leaned over the balcony of the Eiffel Tower. She didn't have a fear of heights and if she wanted to, she would climb over the rail and reach out as far as she could...as long as her grappling hook was stuck to something strong enough to hold her weight.

"Can't argue with you on that one, Cassie," Derek said, "This view is stunning."

"You know," Joshua held up a finger, "This would be a romantic place for a proposal."

"Joshua," Erkin said, "Are you trying to propose to me?"

Joshua looked at Erkin with an incredulous look. "Don't go there, Erkin. I love you but I don't want to propose just yet."

"I can understand that," Erkin said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Perfectly understandable."

_I still have a ring in my wallet for when the time does come,_ Erkin thought, _This is romantic but I don't want to waste a beautiful moment on something like this. Just a little more time and I'll be wedding Joshua._

Cassie and Derek smirked at the two.

"They're such a cute couple," Derek snickered, "I love them for it."

"Yeah, they are," Cassie agreed. She turned back to the city and rested her arms against the rails. Derek copied her and she noticed but said nothing. Until the silence became too much.

"After this adventure," she began and didn't resume until she had Derek's full attention, "We really got to take a break. I swear, after this adventure, we go on vacation."

"'We'," he repeated, "You and I go on vacation?"

Cassie didn't realize what she said and licked her lips nervously.

"What I need is a long sleep after this," he said, "And all the strawberry smoothies I can drink. I don't care where I'm going, as long as it is somewhere warm."

_Well, I find myself in the presence of you warm,_ she thought but she dared not to say it aloud.

"Yeah," she said, "I guess all I need after this is a good night's sleep." She didn't know what to say next so she decided to just keep her mouth shut. She also couldn't help but notice that Derek had subconsciously inched closer to her by two feet.

About an hour passed on the top of the Eiffel Tower, some pictures were taken before they went back down. The four treasure hunters were upset that the adventure ended too quickly before Cassie reminded them that they still had a bigger adventure to complete. Now the only thing they needed to focus on completely was how to draw Vita Longa towards them.

"If we draw them out in a private place then they'll get suspicious," Cassie said, "If we can catch their attention in a crowded place then make ourselves scarce, we might have a chance."

"How will we be able to tell if they're Vita Longa?" Joshua asked.

"Instincts," she answered.

They walked around Paris for another half hour before they went somewhere public with a lot of people. It was a French restaurant that sold snails as an appetite and Cassie was disgusted by the taste.

_I was hoping they had French Fries,_ she said to herself.

They sat in a booth at the far back of the restaurant right in front of a window that gave them a clear view of the street. There was nothing interesting to eat as the four friends just drank some coffee along with some pretzel rolls.

A pretzel roll was about halfway from Cassie's mouth when her spider-sense went off. At a table in the center of the restaurant sat three people. There was a blonde woman sitting with her back to Cassie, a tall man with brown hair and bandages wrapped around two of his fingers sitting beside the woman and there was a young man with spiky red hair sitting across from the woman. He was the only one whose face Cassie could make out.

The redhead looked at Cassie for a brief second before turning back to his food.

"You see those guys over there," she whispered to Derek, "I doubt they're here for the pretzel rolls." She took a bite of her pretzel roll. "That woman, I can't see her face but she seems familiar. The man with the brown hair has bandages wrapped around his fingers and this is enough to catch my eye. The redhead, he looked at me before turning away."

"Well, maybe he was just admiring how beautiful you are," Derek suggested.

"Aw," Cassie cooed, "You're so adorable," she pinched his cheeks. "But for real, I'm pretty sure that's Vita Longa."

"We won't know for sure unless they're following us outside," he reminded.

"We could leave right now," she said, "But it'll be difficult to shake them off. Unless we had some sort of distraction."

"Cassie," Erkin said, "You seem to be forgetting, we're in a crowded restaurant. I used to make temper tantrums at restaurants when I was a kid. I'll create a distraction."

"Good," she praised.

She grabbed her cup and Derek's and pretended like she was going for a refill. Derek follows her and they keep a close hawkeye on the three sitting at the table.

Erkin stood up and initiated his distraction. "I saw this on Youtube," he whispered to Joshua before shouting, "Hey" across the room loud enough to catch the attention of nearly everybody in the restaurant, even the three at the table. "Who made the pretzel rolls?!" He repeated his question, even though he was saying in English and not in the native French language, simply because he can't speak French. He also decided to shout it in his native Kazakh language. He kept repeating until he got an answer. "I'm serious, who made the pretzel rolls?"

"J'ai fait," a waiter shouted.

"I love the pretzel roll man," Erkin cheered and when he started clapping, everyone else started clapping due to the mob mentality.

The three mercenaries stared at Erkin Yura with glares on their faces.

"That's Erkin Yura," Zwei, the brown-haired mercenary with bandages on his fingers, said.

"He's yipping like a dog to distract us," Eins, the blonde female mercenary said.

"Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell ran out of the restaurant," Drei, the redhead, said. "They were using Yura and Hale as distractions."

"No wonder," Eins said, "The pretzel rolls here taste stale. Let's go get Drake and Lowell."

"Wait," Drei held up a hand, "We should not let our guard down, even when we pursue our prey."

"This is not our first rodeo," Eins said, "You can trust us and we trust you."

"Enough chit-chat," Zwei scolded, "Let's go."

The three mercenaries got out of their tables and pushed in their chairs.

"What about them?" the brown-haired mercenary asked, pointing at Erkin and Joshua.

"I'll take care of them," Zwei said.

The blonde and redhead mercenaries stepped out of the restaurant after paying for their pretzel rolls and glasses of red wine (all three of them had a high alcohol tolerance). The two of them stepped out of the restaurant with their hands tucked into their pockets. They walked across the street after waiting for cars to pass. Eins led in the front with Drei in the back in a single formation. As they made it across the street, Drei put a hand on the woman and whispered into his ear, "Drake and Lowell are above us, waiting to follow us."

Drei's prediction was true.

When they left the restaurant, Cassie and Derek climbed onto a fire escape using their skilled rock climbing abilities and they stalked their prey as they came out of the restaurant.

"They're not trying to follow us," Derek mentioned to Cassie. "You think they know we're onto us?"

"Possibly," she said, "These guys are occult members so it would be possible. Either that or they got scared when they realized we were gone."

"We're just trailing them?"

She nods.

_Where is the one with the brown hair?_ she wondered.

The two adventures follow the two mercenaries as they walk down a street with a few people walking. They jumped from the fire escape and onto the roof of the adjunct building and moved across. They kept their heads down and moved alongside the edge to not lose sight of the two mercenaries.

Cassie comes to the edge of a building with a rope positioned across. It was connected from her current building and to the opposite. She jumps onto the rope and pulls her chin over the rope and crawls across. When she made it to the edge of the building and climbed up, the rope disconnected from the buildings and fell onto the streets below.

"Oh crap," Cassie cursed because she and Derek were now on opposite buildings.

She saw his worried expression on his face and silently motioned for him to go. Derek understood this and walked away, following the mercenaries through an alternate path.

"Looks like it's just me," she said to herself. She spotted the last location of the mercenaries again but noticed that the woman was gone, leaving only the redhead one. "Where'd the girl go?"

The redhead mercenary continued to walk across the sidewalk and joined a group of people waiting at a stoplight. Cassie had to stay on him but she also knew that she could not leap from one building to another that was a block away. She could only wish that she found some solution and she did: The redhead mercenary took a turn to the left and abandoned the group of people walking across the street.

She followed him to the right of the building, climbing up the ladder to a larger portion of the building and continuing her pursuit.

"Time is running out, I got to ambush him now and soon."

She reaches the end of the building but this time, she found a way down. The building across from her was in jumping range and there was a vertical pipe leading all the way to the ground. She leaps across and grabs onto the pipe. It slipped from the pipe but glued her feet to the wall just in the nick of time. She slides down the pipe like a fireman. Upon reaching the ground, she peeks out from the alleyway and sees that the redhead mercenary was suddenly gone.

"Where the hell did he go?" she nearly gasped.

She follows the trail that she subconsciously believes he took and since she no longer had to duck on the roof, all she had to do was walk like a normal person. But since the redhead mercenary was nowhere in sight, it was like trying to shoot an enemy in the dark without NVGs.

"Come out come out," she whispered, "Wherever the crap you are."

She reached the end of the traffic light and looked at the intersection. There were crowds of people walking here and there and the redhead could've been anywhere. She turns around and gasps. She slumps forward and collapses into the arms of someone. Her first thought was Derek but everything shattered when she saw the mischievous smirk of the redhead mercenary.


	20. The Present

_Cassie pushed her eyes open and slapped the sleep out of her eyes as she looked ahead of her to see Harris sitting at a table across from her. She looked down at her hands and realized that her own hands weren't tied so there was something good out of being captured in public. She scanned around her environment once again and saw that she was seated in front of a coffee shop and people were sitting at other tables speaking in their native language while she was sitting in front of her enemy at this moment. "Hi," Harris waived nonchalantly. Cassie looked over to her right to see Derek sitting in a chair beside her, neither one were bound or gagged. He shrugs as he spots the other two villains, Pavel and Marcel, sitting at a table adjunct to theirs. It was better to not make a scene because these guys obviously owned the police and could easily just out them as fugitives so the best thing to do would be to appeal the occult society._

_"Why'd I have to wake up? I was having a good nap," Cassie quips as she playfully elbows Derek in the arm._

_"Sorry for the inconvenience, but we needed you guys awake. Anyway, we've been thinking and reading," he pulls out a journal from his back pocket, Cassie's journal that he stole while she was sleeping, and opened it. "It is a beautiful story that you have written in this journal, Cassie. I mean, all the legendary alchemists coming together to create the Philosopher's Stone, only to hide it in a lost city. You really have done your homework, Cassie."_

_Cassie mentally groaned over her stolen journal. "Well, that's how I got into college in the first place and how I graduate in a couple of months."_

_"Despite," Harris began, "Despite reading your book over a dozen times, I am still confused as to where the actual location of Ys resides. Can you help me out here? I can easily just hypnotize you into giving me information but I follow a very strict code."_

_"Honor among thieves, really?" She looks at the coffee cups that Pavel and Marcel place down in front of them. She was not tempted and ignored their polite gestures. "My father is the one who knows all about honor among thieves."_

_"I don't care who you are, Cassie," Harris rebutted. "The only thing I want from you guys is your cooperation." He leans over the table and hisses at her, "Where is Ys. Tell me where it is?"_

_"Calm down, Mr. Hisser, don't you know it's called a lost city for a reason?" She looks to see Marcel rising from his seat and moving over to behind Cassie and puts his hands on her shoulders. She could put up with a lot of things, torture, being shot at, beat up, but a villain physically putting their hands on her was where she drew the line in the sand. "Take your hands off me or else you will have to hypnotize yourself to block out the agony that I will bring to you."_

_"You think you're such a fighter," Marcel smirks but he appeals to her request._

_"Cassie," Harris began again, "I don't care who you are or what you are, I only dream of finding the Philosopher's Stone. It's been my group's lifelong goal and many leaders before me have perished and no one but you has come this far to discovering the one stone that turns all kinds of metal into gold while granting the user the ability to live indefinitely."_

_"One thing you need to get through your skull, Harris, is that the stone only grants you the ability to live longer, not make you immortal. You can still die like any other human. 'Sides, you have an entire cult, now you need to steal somebody bigger than you?"_

_"This isn't about money or power, Cassie. I have all that in my little cult society. My motive is principal and respect."_

_"Well, our motive is the thrill of adventure, but we also know that if something is lost, then it is lost for a reason. Call it our job to make sure that myths stay myths."_

_"If that's what you want to call your job. I know nothing about you other than your name or your occupations and I don't care about your motives. I only value respect and what's right."_

_"Well, what's right is not looking for a powerful object out of respect or principal. At least you're original; I've encountered some pretty selfish villains over the years. A teenager with issues against the government, Neo-Nazi wannabes, an arrogant black market trafficker, a guardian who doesn't talk, and even a global terrorist group who think the world is unlivable. Derek here even met a Genghis Khan copycat when he was in the Gobi."_

_"Interesting tales," Harris rolled his eyes, "But I'm not a villain. I only want your cooperation and if you don't cooperate, then I will bring discomfort upon you."_

_Pavel walks over to Harris and whispers something into his ear. Harris's face lit up with excitement. "Excellent," he turns to Cassie to explain, "It looks like your friends, Johsua and Erkin, are in possession of a page torn out of this journal and we have them in our sights and we already have acolytes on their way."_

_Cassie winces and looks at Pavel. Derek looks over his shoulder at Marcel and growls at him like a predator. "Cass," Derek calls out._

_"What's up, D-Man?"_

_"I heard there's a better coffee shop on the other side of town."_

_She nodded, understanding what he was cryptically implying. "Good idea, I'll race you there."_

_Cassie and Derek both flip the tables over and shove away Marcel and make a run for it across the street and into an alleyway but Marcel and Pavel were in hot pursuit and chased after them, it was literally a reenactment of Cassie's father experience in Yemen._

_Before she could cut down an alleyway, the redhead mercenary appeared in front of her and connected his fist to Cassie's face, sending her into unconsciousness. _

* * *

"Let's try this again," Harris said.

Cassie snaps out of it for reals this time and realizes that she was back where she started when she ran off. She remembers: She was running and then Marcel and Pavel chased after her then everything went black after the redhead ambushed her in the alleyway. Now here she was, back to Square One with only herself sitting at a table and no Derek this time.

In addition to Harris, Pavel, and Marcel surrounding her, there were the three mercenaries standing behind Harris and all three of them had their arms crossed over their chest. She saw the blonde female mercenary's face and instantly recognized it.

"You were at the museum," Cassie said, "You were the one who stole the manuscript."

"That was me," Eins said, "I am known as Eins and these two," she points to her two companions, "Are Zwei and Drei."

"Let's get this over with for real," Harris said, firmer then how he had previously been. "Do you know where the lost city of Ys is? We're on a tight schedule and we need you to tell us quickly. I'm not playing around. Tell me what you know or else I'll have Marcel and Pavel hypnotize you into giving up the information."

"Where's Derek?" she asked, "Erkin, Joshua."

"When I took you out," Drei began, "Eins subdued Derek while Zwei took care of your two friends with the assistance of Marcel and Pavel."

"What about Derek who was just here?"

"That was another illusion," Marcel said, "I put you under one. I thought you would feel more comfortable if you were in the presence of your loved one."

Cassie became agitated. "Aren't you supposed to be drowning in the Baltic?"

"We would've," Pavel said, "But these three mercenaries saved our lives. We are indebted to them."

"Also, you're the first one to break from our illusion," Marcel said, "You were supposed to die from cardiac arrest but for some reason, you're still standing. You were supposed to picture yourself getting eaten by a sea monster and you're still alive."

"Enough interrupting, where is YS?!" Harris asked, "We have to know for reals, do you know where Ys is?"

"It's here in France, but you already knew that," Cassie said smugly, "Whatever your name is."

"Austin Harris," he introduced himself.

"Are you the leader of Vita Longa?"

"I'm a leader but I'm not the highest-ranking one. The leader of Vita Longa is a man named Hans Heisenberg. Like me, he only exists within Vita Longa and not on the internet."

_Heisenberg,_ Cassie thought and she had a confused look to subconsciously tell what she was thinking,_ like Breaking Bad?_

"I can tell you're interested," Harris said, "I can also tell that you have no clue as to where Ys actually is. Your friends, Lowell, Yura, and Hale, we're holding them."

"If you're trying to get under my skin by using Derek and company to force me to come with you into Ys for whatever reason, then you're wasting your time."

"You misunderstand us," Marcel said, "My name is Marcel Manet, I'm native to this country."

"I remember you," she said, "You're the one I was fighting on the boat."

"That would be me," he said, "We had to swim for two miles to meet up with each other before the Three Mercs picked us up by boat. You've got us a great deal of misfortune."

"But we can forgive," Pavel said, "Harris, Marcel, and I are the only true members of Vita Longa, we are inviting you to come with us to Ys for the great opening."

"Why?" she wondered.

"We believe that you are worthy enough to gaze upon the Philosopher's Stone," Harris said, "The tool that will bring restore Rome back to its glorious days. Resolve the present for a better past for a better future. We, Vita Longa, believe that the only way a better future can be assured is for the past to be revisited so we can learn from our mistakes."

"Well," Cassie shrugs casually, "Personally, I like the world the way it is and it would suck if things suddenly started changing. I'd missed the Italian pizza too much."

Harris was getting annoyed with Cassie's behavior and wanted nothing more than to slap his open palm across his face. But after what happened last time, he made a pledge never to hit another woman, no matter who they were...or how long he's been married to that woman.

"I'm giving you an opportunity, Cassie," Harris said, "Gaze upon the lost city of Ys and witness the power of the Philosopher's Stone."

"Like I said, no thanks," she said, "But if you think I'm just going to stand by and let you take the stone for yourselves, think again."

_She is stubborn,_ Harris thought, _I will give her that. But I have to get her to come to Ys with us one way or another. If she could find all those lost cities and mythical objects in less then two days or weeks then she is the only one capable of figuring how to open the gate to Ys. We've spent countless years trying to open the gate but Cassie had gotten the job done several times, succeeding where others have failed. We need her to open the gate if we want the stone._

This time, Harris got stern. He slammed his fist on the table and leaned forward. Cassie copied him mockingly. "Listen here, you are coming with us to Ys whether you want to or not. If you try anything stupid, we will kill your friends. We'll start with Yura and Hale because they're insignificant and because you have feelings for Lowell, we'll kill him slowly."

Cassie's wide-eye betrayed her nonchalant expression.

_He threatened Derek after saying that I had feelings for him. For this reason alone, I will take down Vita Longa and every mercenary working for them._


	21. Yellow, Brown, Red

This time, the chase was real. Cassie pushed the table off its legs and made a run for it. The Three Mercs sprinted for Cassie, going at full force with a speed that surpassed Derek and he was the fastest kid on the track team all four years of high school.

"You're not going anywhere," Eins shouted as she was ahead of her two companions.

"Get her!" Zwei shouted.

"We're not picking flowers," Drei said sarcastically, "Are we?"

Cassie runs through an alleyway and she cuts to the left. She knew that this was different from her father's chase in Yemen. One: She was being chased, not the other way around. Two: There were three enemies involved. Three: They run faster than her and have a good chance of catching her.

She ran into the street and she narrowly avoided getting hit by oncoming cars and made it across. The Three Mercs ran out into the street but instead of dodging the cars, they jumped over them with flexibility and strength behind their jump. They wasted less time getting across then Cassie did. They jumped over three more oncoming cars before chasing Cassie down the street.

There were no alleyways for her to run through this time so she had to stick to the sidewalk.

There was a crowd of people in front of her, a group of little children from what she guessed were on a field trip of some kind, based on the school bus parked on the sidewalk. She ran around them. The Three Mercs jumped over the children without harming any of them.

Cassie noticed this.

_These aren't regular mercenaries. They're athletic, even more so than Derek and me._

She ran through a street market and there were dozens of people in her path. She pushed one pedestrian out of the way and she shouted at her in French.

The Three Mercs used advanced parkour to jump over tables and do flips over people without even touching them.

Cassie runs through a door. She shuts it on the face of Eins and she falls to the ground. Zwei and Drei reach to grab Cassie but she moves out of the way in time.

She is back in the same restaurant as before and she runs to the booth she was in from earlier. She jumps on the table and dives out the window, landing on her feet and running. She runs out into the street and gets hit by a car going at ten miles per hour. She collapses in pain but quickly shrugs it off. She runs into the next building and enters through the doors forcefully.

There was a set of stairs leading to the second floor and she ran up them. There were several doors in a hallway and Zwei suddenly materialized out of nowhere in front of the door.

"Surprise, asshole," he said.

Cassie runs through the closest door, which leads her to a room with an open window. She jumps through the window and catches herself on a pipe to the opposite building. She climbs up the pipe like she was climbing a rope in gym class.

Zwei jumps after her and climbs up the pipe after her.

When Cassie reaches the roof, there are small portions of rooftops for her to jump down and get back to the ground. That seemed to be the only logical thing to do because Eins found a way onto the roof by climbing up from the side and both mercs chased after Cassie.

Cassie leaps from rooftop to the lower section of the rooftop. When she reached the edge, the next building was within jumping distance and there was a window. She leaped for it. She crashes through the window and lands on her back. Eins and Zwei had better luck and they jumped onto handholds on the building and climbed their way in the broken window.

Cassie gets up and runs through the door leading out of the room. When she was in the hallway, there was Drei, standing in her path.

"You can't escape," Drei said, "We know your moves."

Cassie runs in the opposite direction of the hallway. She takes a right at the end and sees the three mercenaries still in hot pursuit after her.

_These guys are strategists,_ she thought, _I have to outwit them if I want to survive._

She finds a door leading to stairs and she follows them down. The Three Mercs decided to take another way down.

When Cassie reached the first floor of the building, she was in the lobby and she ran for the front door. She heard an elevator door ding and the three mercenaries come out.

_They're smart as they are athletic,_ she thought, _Given how strategic they are, they've served a long time together. If I can overpower one and threaten the others with his life, they'll leave me alone._

She runs out the door and into another street market. She runs past the people and comes to an open gate. She quickly closes it behind her and locks it with chains. Eins tried opening the gate but failed.

_Where are the others?_

Zwei and Drei dropped down from above from hopping over the gate. Cassie ran while Drei chased her. Zwei unlocked the gate and the chase continued. After careful thinking, Eins and Zwei take a different path.

Cassie ran into the open street with more oncoming cars. Her quick-thinking hatched a plan for her and it required timing

_That tow truck will do the trick._

She ran to the sidewalk and she did a wall-run as Drei closed in on her. She jumped over his head and with her timing precision, landed on the back of a tow truck as it passed. She didn't land perfectly and hit her shoulder hard against the bottom of the truck. The tow truck was driving at thirty miles per hour and she bet her life that Drei could do the humanly impossible and run thirty miles per hour on foot.

But somehow, he did manage the impossible. Dwei had jumped onto the tow truck at the last second just seconds after Cassie jumped on. He grabbed onto a bar and climbed on. He grabbed the unaware Cassie and punched her in the back of the head. She lost her balance and went falling over the truck. Dwei grabbed Cassie by the back of her collar and yanked her back to safety. She took advantage of his kindness and kicked him in the stomach. He barely reacted and backhanded her.

"Stop fighting," he ordered forcefully, "We need you alive."

Cassie throws another punch but it was a fake, the real strike was to kick him and she kicked him in the shin instead of the face like intended. He pushes her back and she flies forward when the tow truck slowed down and she fell over the side. She rolled on the ground for a few feet but she shrugged off the pain and went running once more. She cut between an alley and Dwei was in hot pursuit. There was a fence blocking her path but she did the smart thing and she did a wall-run over the fence. She was about to run off until Zwei blocked her path. She tried running back but there was a wall blocking her path and Drei already hopped the fence.

The two mercenaries blocked off Cassie's only escape route but there was one: The wall behind her could be climbed up and over. That's exactly what she did. She wall-runs up and over the wall and the mercs copy her.

_Man, this is never going to end._

She's running down another alley and just as she was about to make it out, Eins burst through a window beside her and tackled her into another. Both girls fell on their sides but Cassie was faster and whacked Eins across the face and picked herself up. She sprinted through the building she was pushed through and ran out the front door. She climbs over a parked car and leaps. It was only Eins chasing after her this time with Zwei and Drei nowhere to be seen.

"Come on, Drake," Eins shouted, "This is getting old!"

"While you're getting old, I'm getting young," Cassie quipped. She runs into another building but this time, there was a large group of people inside which concealed her presence. She runs through the doors and closes them tightly behind her. She rushes into the crowd and slows down when she feels safely surrounded.

_Knowing these mercenaries, they're going to try and cut me off. I have to find a way to escape them, find a blind spot. But when I do find a blindspot, one or all of them show up. They have the advantage, they seem to know this territory like the back of their hand and their athletic abilities are phenomenal. They had to have their whole life to do something like this. Their training is far more rigorous than mine._

Cassie felt someone push into her and she went walking forwards before she stopped herself. She moved around the crowd of people and saw a set of stairs going upstairs. She headed upstairs where she would get a better vantage point and spot her enemies. She climbed up the stairs with a large group of people, laughing when they were laughing to make it look like she was with them. The crowd was quickly approaching a door with a security guard and Cassie figured that this was a sign of good luck.

When everyone started laughing over a joke told in French, Cassie laughed with them loudly. The crowd walked through the door with the security guard letting them pass. Cassie laughs and punches the security guard's cheek out of friendliness.

She was now at a party on the second floor and from what she guessed, she was at a party for rich people because everyone was dressed in class, suits, penguins, and spaghetti tops. She now realized how her luck changed.

_If everyone here is dressed classy and I'm dressed in my…_ she looks down at her army green henley, green cargo pants, and chukka boots, _I'm a fish in a barrel. But then again, the mercenaries were wearing casual clothes so they should stand out as well._

She felt someone touch her right arm and her first thought was the mercenaries but the touch wasn't firm enough to be that of a merc's.

It was the French security officer from early, the one whose cheek she pinched. He deduced that she wasn't a member of the party by her clothing and she escorted her out of the party with force. Cassie replied back in French that she left her suit in the dryer upstairs and that she should go upstairs to get it but the guard wasn't buying it. He kicked Cassie, literally, out of the party and she nearly fell down the stairs. She looked back at the guard and had half a brain to give him what Americans call 'The Bird' but she figured that it wouldn't be politically correct for some reason.

"France not being kind to you?"

Cassie turns around and sees the three mercenaries standing at the bottom of the stairs and looking up at her.

"We'll invite you to a private party at Ys if you'd like," Zwei continued, "You are VIP after all."

"No thanks, I like to limit myself to one party a week," Cassie smirked as the three mercs began ascending up the stairs.

"Don't make things more difficult," Eins said, "I mean, if we were to cause a commotion, the police would be after us and because we're Americans, we'd be put in jail."

"You're Americans?" Cassie asked Eins.

"We are," she answered.

"You have some athletic abilities," she at least complimented.

"Thank you," Zwei said, "Eins, Drei, and I each won a bronze medal in the 2032 summer _and_ winter Olympics so our athletic abilities surpass even the great Cassie Drake's. That, and we are master strategists and it was actually our plan to get you to this party. This was the one place you could not run through without the police chasing you and it worked."

"Come with us," Eins demanded, "We won't ask a third time."

_You didn't even ask._


	22. Hypnosis

Cassie, against her will, walked with the three mercenaries outside the building. Eins was walking in front of Cassie as if to guide her while Zwei and Drei stood on either side to grab her in the event she tried running off again.

_I have to get out of here,_ she thought, _They're not going to kill me which means their goal is to capture me alive. I can use that to my advantage because while they're getting paid to keep me alive, I can kill them._

"What are you thinking?" Drei asked, sensing something was wrong. "What's going on inside your head?"

"What's going on inside your head?" she countered.

"I asked first," Drei said.

"Ever heard the term, 'Ladies first'?"

He glared at her. "You're planning something, I can feel it."

Eins opened the revolving doors and waited for the others. When Cassie went through, she charged through the revolving doors and crushed both Drei and Zwei against the doors. She slipped out of Eins's grasp and the chase started once more. She was running down the sidewalk but she had to stop to realize that a police car pulled up in front of her, which meant that she was going to be arrested.

She runs down another alleyway but the police cut her off at the end. So there was nowhere to go except up and there was a pipe she could climb. That's just what she did and when she did, the police began shooting at her. She barely reached the top in time and on the roof, someone was air-drying their clothes and there was a rope leading from this building to another building. She quickly removes her grappling hook and she uses it to zipline across the line and into a private garden on another building.

She puts her grappling hook back at her hip and turns around to see Eins swinging a stick of wood at her. She ducks in time to grab the wood, headbutt Eins, and whacks the merc across the face with it. She staggers and collapses to the ground with a bloody nose and dazed expression.

Zwei and Drei came ziplining across. She somersaults out of the way but Drei dives forward to attack Cassie. She ran for the door to the private garden but Zwei was blocking her path with a crowbar he pulled from his holster.

Drei throws a punch, aiming for the back of Cassie's head. She moves out of the way in time, sensing the punch, and kicks him in the stomach. She pushes against him and his back connects to the wall.

He knees her in the stomach and pulls her and pushes her up against the wall, forearm to her back. He brings his knee up and plants it in the small of her back. Cassie slides down the wall in pain and struggles but Zwei gave Drei a hand by tugging at all four of her limbs as Drei sets her on the ground.

_I hope someone walks in on us,_ Cassie thought, _So they can see that I'm in a rape position and call the police._

Cassie uses the physical strength in her arms to resist Zwei yanking her arms and hands slip from his. She slides from Drei's knee and rolls on her stomach. She kicks Drei in the groin before connecting her shoes to his face.

Zwei swung the crowbar.

Cassie ducks in time and knees him in the stomach before pushing the crowbar in his face. She tackles him in the gut and lands on top of him.

Drei recovered and lunged for Cassie on Zwei.

Cassie rolls onto her side and pulls Zwei on top of her so that Drei collides with the brown-haired mercenary.

The two mercenaries crash into each other and land on the ground.

"Get up," Drei shouted at the brown-haired mercenary.

When Zwei looked forward, Cassie's foot came towards his face and smashed into his nose. He went lights out instantly.

Drei grabbed Cassie's foot and threw her across the ground. He picks up the crowbar and prepares to swing it down.

Cassie kicks him in the groin again.

He collapses over and Cassie kicks him in the face with both feet.

He falls back and into a fountain. He surfaced with a glare on his drenched face. "I'm going to hurt you," he said, "You don't kick me in the crotch."

"It's effective when you think about it," Cassie said.

Eins was regaining her senses. When she opened her eyes, she saw Cassie pushing Drei into the fountain in an attempt to drown him and Zwei was unconscious.

_Carter…_ she thought in panic. She picks herself up and collides with Cassie.

Eins stood over Cassie and pushed her into the water by her throat.

Drei, exhausted, climbed out of the fountain before he collapsed.

"I'll kill you," Eins said in a blind rage state.

_She's drowning me,_ Cassie thought as she struggled to surface, _I have to pull myself out of this fountain somehow._

Eins yanked Cassie out of the fountain on purpose so she could get a breath of fresh air before he submerged her again.

"If it were up to me, you'd be dead."

Cassie's strugglings slowed until they became nonexistent.

Eins's eyes widened. "I can't kill her."

She pulls Cassie out of the water. She holds Cassie up so their faces are almost touching. She searches for signs of life in the girl's face.

"Don't die," she said but not out of concern, "The bosses want you alive."

The motionless Cassie smirked. "I'm immortal."

Eins's eyes widened.

_Even when I was drowning her, she was playing possum._

Cassie knees her in the crotch.

Eins yelled in pain before Cassie slipped out of her hands and hammered her forehead into the fountain and punched her across the face.

"That's for the museum," Cassie said.

Eins fell to the ground, unconscious.

Cassie pants heavily, taking slow breaths in but quick breaths out. She could feel the sweat on her forehead, despite being drenched in water from the fountain.

"That was exhausting," she said to herself. She sits upon the fountain's edge and rests her elbows on her knees. She looked at the three mercenaries lying unconscious before her.

"If these guys are athletically superior to me, then they are on par with me. However, they're not good fighters."

"Always got to do everything myself."

Cassie turned to face the direction of the voice but it was too late.

Marcel was standing in front of her and he pressed his forehead to her. "Don't bother." He snaps his fingers.

_What's happening,_ she asked herself, _Why do I feel so good all of a sudden? I feel like I'm floating!_

Marcel backed away from Cassie and said, "You will be walking back with us without any resistance, is that understood?"

"Yes," she said without thinking, "I'll follow you without any resistance."

"Good," Marcel smiled.

_I hypnotized her,_ Marcel thought, _She won't be able to resist._ He looked at the three downed mercenaries. _She really did a number on the Three Mercs._

"Can we stop for French donuts?"

Marcel was _not_ expecting that from a hypnotized Cassie.

"We have no time," Marcel said, "Follow me."

"What about the others?" Cassie asked, "I knocked them out, all three of them are unconscious because of me. We should carry them back."

Marcel studied her.

_A person's hypnotic state reflects on the victim's personality. Drake's concern for the three mercs must mean that she is compassionate._

Pavel was standing in front of the door and watched the exchange between hypnotist and hypnotized.

"This is getting utterly ridiculous," Pavel suddenly said, "Why not just hypnotize her into unconsciousness then we can be on our way?"

"I will not do that," Marcel snapped.

"Thank you," the hypnotized Cassie said, "I don't like it when people carry me, except Derek."

Marcel smiled.

"Follow me and I promise we'll see Derek."

Cassie beamed. "Really? I want to see him, I'm in love with him!"

"I'm aware," Marcel said before he took Cassie by the hand. "Let's go so we can meet Derek."

Marcel cringed inwardly.

_Is it bad that I feel guilty for hypnotizing this girl? I understand that she is our opponent for opposing us but seeing more of her compassionate side makes me feel guilty for some reason. When I was growing up, I was raised to be an acolyte of Vita Longa but mother and father were the nicest parents a guy like me could ask for. They were kind and compassionate to me._

Marcel led Cassie out of the private garden and back to the cafe where everything started.

Cassie was off in her own dream world.

_I can't shake off this sensation, not like I want to. This tingling feeling inside me feels so good. I feel like a fish swimming in the ocean. A fish swimming in the warm waters of a hot spring and just drifting, not a care in the world. I remember that I was supposed to be running from somebody but why should I run? I'm feeling the time of my life. That's right! I came to the city of love and that's what I'm going to do: Confess my love to D-_

"Wake up," Harris said and lightly slapped her across the face, "No need to act sleepily drunk again. As you can see, the illusionists I sent were far more superior than you expected. If you attempt to run _again,_ they'll come after you again and they will bring you back. I should've sent them after you in the first place but they're the last resort."

Cassie snapped out of her trance and upon realizing that she was sitting at the same table from the cafe, she suddenly became frustrated.

_I can't believe,_ she thought to herself as she balls up her fists and looks down at her feet, _I lost to the two illusionists guys? To a bunch of jackasses? What is wrong with me? How could I have lost?_ She looks at the two who smiles at her. She returns her gaze to nothingness. _I may have lost the battle but I will win the war._

"I can see that you're considering our offer," Harris said as he sipped from his coffee, "Take all the time you need to come up with an answer because we have outcomes for both results."

_I could run off but I'm tired and exhausted from running. I just had thoughts of seeing Derek and confessing my love to him but I can't see him. I miss him and I want nothing more than to make sure he is safe. If I run off again, they could hurt Derek. These villains know about my love for him and I can't risk it. I want to take care of Derek, I want to kiss him, make love to him, just talk to him and hear the sounds of his sweet voice. I want to hear him talk about strawberries and be there to comfort him when there are bats flying around him._

She glared.

_Vita Longa. If they want the Philosopher's Stone so badly and they're willing to work with me to get it, then I guess I have no chance but to work with them. With my luck, I'll end up destroying the lost city as I did to several previous ones. It's inevitable which means that while I lost this battle, I will win the war by destroying the Philosopher's Stone and sending Ys back to Davy Jones' Locker._

"Have you decided on an answer?" Harris asked, with a hint of impatience arising in his voice.

This was her chance, her only opportunity and if she was being practical, joining Vita Longa on this quest was the only sure way to guarantee that Derek is still alive (and she can sense he is). She looks up to Harris and smiles.

"I hope I get to meet Harry Potter at Ys."


	23. Heisenberg

It was night when they arrived at their destination. Cassie was forced to sit with the three mercenaries in the back of a pickup truck while Harris drove them to their destination. When they arrived there, Cassie was expecting them to actually be swimming underground like they did in Germany but the opposite had happened. They actually drove downtown and they arrived at a large infrastructure with ancient writing on the front door.

"Is this Ys?" Cassie asked Eins.

"I believe so," the merc answered, "Unlike most lost cities, the city of Ys is not so lost, it's just hidden in plain sight. That's about all I know."

Cassie looked at the infrastructure as she climbed out of the car. She kept her eyes on the tomb as she walked up the steps with the mercs and Vita Longa members walking with her. There were tourists taking pictures and she wondered if anybody would notice her running off. She considered it but the three mercs surrounded her from all sides so it would be futile to have history repeat itself.

Like the Tomb of Hermes Tri-Something, there were five guards standing post at the front door with assault rifles. Their guards raised when Harris walked up before he said something in a foreign language that allowed the guards to let them pass for free.

"I wish I knew what they were saying," Zwei said randomly to his companion, "I can only speak English, Spanish, and German."

"To each, their own I guess," Drei shrugged, "Let's just get this over with.

The two mercs pushed Cassie forcefully through the door.

"Alright," Cassie said, "Cálmese!"

Cassie slid through the doors and was on the inside of the tomb. There were the same designs as the Tomb of Hermes Tri-Something had and it made Cassie realized that if the Hermes tomb was in Italy, Ostanes's tomb in Germany, then they must be in the Tomb of the Flamels, the alleged creators of the Philosopher's Stone.

"We've been digging in this tomb for the better part of several months," Harris mentioned to Cassie as he directed her down a path. "Eighteen months to be exact." He leads the group through the path that was always blocked off when Cassie was exploring. She thought she would have to crawl through another rathole but this tomb showed mercy upon her.

She walks through the cave of the path and when they get to the other side, it was the biggest lab of the alchemists so far.

The room was about fifty square feet and there were several bookshelves stacked on one another like a library with tall shelves.

"It took us a year to read all these books," Marcel said, "Not a single one tells us how to open the gate which is down there."

Cassie looks forward and sees the end of the wall. The wall had two giant knobs in the center like a door but in between them was a mirror of some kind and the sudden interest made Cassie's head tilt.

"Is that a mirror?" Cassie asked aloud? "I didn't think that alchemists would be into fashion."

"That's not just a mirror," Harris, "That is the device that will open these doors and lead us to Ys. The only problem is that we can't figure out how to open it. I've consulted with Heisenberg and you would be the best person to open it."

Cassie smiled, "Well, there's no puzzle I can't solve. But before I do this, I want to see Derek, Erkin, and Joshua. And while you're at it, a couple of pizzas from Italy."

Pavel raised a hand, "I could hypnotize you," he warned, "Don't push it."

"Okay," Cassie said in an annoyed voice, "Regular pizza than."

Harris rolled his eyes before looking at Zwei and Drei. "Go get her companions." He turned to Pavel and Marcel. "You two, tell Heisenberg the news."

The four followers nodded respectfully and left the lab, leaving Cassie with Harris and Eins.

"Don't even think of trying to escape," Harris hissed, "Alice is more than enough to take you down."

Eins's eyes widened, realizing that Harris inadvertently said her real name in front of her enemy.

_Don't say my real name,_ she mentally shouted at him, _I do have a son and I'd rather him not be in danger!_

Cassie ignores Harris and doesn't see the glare Eins was shooting at Harris. The Vita Longa member looked at Eins with a confused look, not realizing what he did.

Cassie steps in front of the mirror and she stares into it. She narrows her eyes and reaches for her journal only to realize that the villain took it. She turns to Harris. "I would like my journal, please?"

Harris complied and threw Cassie her journal.

She catches it and flips to a page.

"There is some kind of snake that acts as a guardian to the lost city of Ys and the only way to unlock the gate to Ys is to shine the light of pure gold in the mirror." She had been reading off from her journal aloud and the two villains approached her from behind, looking over her shoulder.

"The color of pure gold," Harris repeated, "We did the same thing you did with deciphering the Voynich Manuscript, using colors to decipher the code."

"You think that there is some kind of secret writing written within the mirror?" she asked, "If you used a gold-colored clipboard, it would be too easy. It is still a clue."

"We'll be here for a while," Eins said, "We'll help with whatever you need."

"Good," she said nonchalantly.

_I got two villains under my thumbs but I shouldn't underestimate them. One is smart and the other is capable of physically overpowering me._

She looks from her journal then back to the mirror, everything seeming to fall into place.

"Oh my god…" she muttered under her breath, "I can't believe it."

"What?" Harris and Eins questioned.

"It can't be that easy," she said again.

"What are you talking about?"

Cassie closed the notebook, everything fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle and it reminded her how much she loved jigsaw puzzles. She turned to Harris and grabbed him by the collars. Harris thought for a second that he was going to be assaulted but that did not end up being the case.

"It's not asking for the color of gold," she said, "It is asking for the color of pure gold."

"What?" Harris and Eins said simultaneously. "What are you talking about?" they both asked.

"Think about it," she said while tugging against his collars, "Colors were used to decipher a text, this mirror requires the actual color to activate. This means holding a clipboard colored gold would not work because it is not pure gold. In simple terms, if there was a clipboard that was made from gold that had been melted and molded into a square like fossilized honey, and we were to shine a light through it over the mirror, then it would work. There's nothing purer than gold itself."

"I was going to say the same thing," Harris said, "But you beat me to the chase."

"Really?" she arched her eyebrows, "You really thought that far ahead?"

"What if I did?" he asked, "I just wanted to see if you could catch up to my intelligence."

"I surpassed your intelligence, Einstein."

Harris smiles, "I'm complimented."

_To humiliate me like that in front of a woman,_ Harris grunted in his head, _You're going to pay for that, Cassie. I think I'll slather you in organic iron then use the Philosopher's Stone to turn you into gold. You will be my trophy._

_This guy figured out the puzzle?_ Cassie told herself, _He couldn't find his own ass with both hands at noon in the street. He's just saying that to look tough in front of this girl. Because I figured everything out, I gave up the advantage when I told him how the puzzle was to be solved. Even so, they're probably taking their sweet time to get Derek and the other two over here because they wanted me to work my magic. They wanted me to solve the puzzle and only bring out my friends when I was taking too long or until they had the insurance that I wouldn't do anything after solving the puzzle. I can't wait to meet this Heisenberg guy because if he is the main antagonist of this adventure, then Harris is the secondary antagonist, Marcel, and the other illusionist are the tertiary antagonists, while the Three Mercs are the quaternary antagonists._

"I'm impressed with your work, Cassie Drake."

Cassie looks over Harris's shoulder and looks at a shirtless and muscular man with a bald head stomps his way into the room with deep breathes exhaled from his mouth.

Marcel and Pavel come in from behind.

Zwei and Drei have Derek, Erkin, and Joshua dragged into the room forcefully with their hands tied behind their back and potato sacks over their heads.

"You figured everything out in less than twenty seconds of entering this room," the muscular man said again. "My name is Heisenberg and I'm the one pulling the strings at Vita Longa."

Zwei and Drei remove the potato sacks from the heads of Erkin and Joshua but leave it on Derek. Cassie let go of Harris and tried to run towards Derek but Eins pushed Cassie back by one hand to the chest and she nearly lost her balance going back.

"I don't recall Hesinberg saying you can go near Derek," Eins said, "And Heisenberg is stronger than you can imagine."

"I can tell by his muscles and solid stomach," Cassie rolled her eyes, "Take the hood off of Derek's head."

More mercenaries stormed into the room and each one had an assault rifle drawn at Cassie. Their barrels lined up to her chest and stomach and she had no choice but to raise her hands in surrender.

Cassie sighed in annoyance, going over this thing once again for the umpteenth time. "Do I look like I have a bullseye on my head? This is not the first time I've been holding out at gunpoint. Go on, shoot me, I'm immortal."

One mercenary pulled back the hammer.

"Wait," Cassie raised her hand, "Not yet! I left something out that only I can solve."

"Am I really to believe that?" Heisenberg asked as he studied Cassie like she was some kind of exotic animal. "I heard your conversation with Harris and I believe I have all that I need."

"You are dumb," she insulted the bald man, "I'm a seasoned explorer, Derek as well. Do you know what happens when we enter a lost city with a WMD inside? Or any lost city in general? Traps, booby traps that are still active even thousands of years after. I've to head more than enough experience and I take after my father. What happens when you come across traps that you can't solve? You'll need someone with hands-on experience if you want the Philosopher's Stone."

_Hopefully, this will buy me some time. I've had more than enough experience with this kind of stuff to be able to predict what every lost city has in common. And if I'm correct, then they will most likely have me move forward ahead through the lost city so I can disarm traps for them. And as a result, I will be the first to see the Philosopher's Stone at the very least. Erkin and Joshua, I will protect them but if they hurt Derek in any way, I will die and they will never get the stone. Even if they scratch him or break a single bone, I will kill myself and they will never get the stone._

"You are sharp," Heisenberg said, "I've known all about your experiences and I can assure you that I have no intention of killing you. These mercenaries are just a little trigger happy because I promised each of them a piece of gold when we found the city."

* * *

**HAPPY 4TH!**


	24. Elevator

Cassie steps up to the mirror and she uses the melted rectangular piece of gold that Vita Longa provided for her and she holds it up to the mirror. Harris took out a flashlight and shined it through the gold.

There was a light of pure gold that shined off the fossilized gold and it hit the mirror with intensity. The mirror began to change colors as well, taking the color of pure gold itself to match the gold rectangle in Cassie's hand.

"That should take care of it," Cassie said with uncertainty but tried to hide it in her voice.

She steps away before the ground beneath her suddenly shakes. Her first thought was an earthquake before she realized that she was shrinking. She was confused at first before she deduced that she wasn't sinking, the ground was lowering beneath her like an elevator.

"What's happening?" Derek asked, the potato sack still covering his head. "Can I have this sack off my head, please?"

Harris looked at Heisenberg, who nodded. He removed the sack personally from Derek's head and watched in amusement as Derek's face lit up with confusion. "We're riding an elevator."

"At least that's the only thing we're riding," he smirked after regaining his posture.

The elevator ride was taking its sweet time descending down into the surface of the earth and she knew this because the pressure in her ears was starting to building up. She winces in pain and tries popping her ears by holding her breath but it wasn't doing anything. The same thing was happening to the other mercenaries.

Cassie turned and used this opportunity to count her enemies.

_There's Heisenberg, Harris, Marcel, the Ukrainian, and the Three Mercs. That's seven, and I count at least twelve mercenaries, which totals up to a kill count of nineteen enemies altogether. I'm unarmed of any gun so I have nothing but my wits to rely on. I'm not handcuffed like my three friends are and they are always being guarded by the three mercenaries. The twelve mercenaries are each armed with an assault rifle, an AK-47 and they have thirty rounds per mag so thirty times equals three hundred and sixty bullets aimed at me._

Heisenberg saw Cassie studying him and the mercenaries.

_Cassie Drake,_ he said in his mind, _I wonder what's going on inside your head? If you're planning how to escape, I've already predicted that you might try to escape and I can't wait to challenge you._

It had taken quite a while for the elevator to lower itself down and when Cassie looked at her wristwatch, only ten minutes have passed since the elevator went down but one thing that caught her attention was the fact that her ears should've been bursting from barotrauma but the ear pressured remained the same, like a rock sliding in the same direction on thick ice.

_What's going on? If the elevator is being lowered then we should've been ten minutes underground and needing submarines to prevent our ears from getting pressurized._

She looked at the faces of the others and realized that none of them were convulsing in pain from barotrauma. She tilted her head, wondering what was going on.

_How is it possible?_ She kept asking herself,_ How are our eardrums not bursting from the pressure._ Her eyes went wide for a brief second but she dropped her lids over her eyes to make sure nobody spotted her making a realization.

_I saw that,_ Heisenberg mentally said as he studied the young blonde woman, _You realized something, didn't you?_

Cassie sighed and looked away, licking her lips in anticipation.

_I can't believe, it's all an illusion._ Her eyes open up and she licks her lower lips again. _That's where Vita Longa got their idea of illusions from. The reason is that alchemists used illusions back then when they were at the top of the world. I've encountered dozens of Marcel's illusions on the boat and in Italy in the tomb of Hermes Tri-Something. These Vita Longa guys aren't original, they're using smoke and mirrors, just like this elevator is. The reason the pressure is the same in our ears is that we stopped but the elevator continues to send out vibrations to make it appear that we are still descending into the earth. Classic but if this the case then that means there must be some kind of trapped set._

She looks around the room, her hazel-green eyes looking around the room for some kind of potential trap. If there was one thing that she knew, it was that the best traps are ones that are activated by their victims. This means that there is a trap in this room and the alchemists were expecting that the people riding this elevator activate it without them knowing.

_If the trap is in this room, I just have to find it._

"Drake," Heisnebger called from the other side of the elevator, "I can see in your eyes that you know that something is off. The reason we're keeping you alive is that you're a seasoned explorer and you know what to do in situations like this. Please…" he crossed his arms over his chest and bowed his head, "Enlighten us and tell us what you were thinking."

_I got careless and let him know that I've done this before. I guess I have no choice but to play along._ "There is a trap in this room," he said, "This whole elevator is a trap."

The mercenaries looked at Cassie with determination. Derek could see it in Cassie's eyes that she was determined as well. Not going to look weak in front of her dangerous enemies but ready to strike when the opportunity came.

"How do you know this is a trap?" one mercenary asked abruptly.

"Calm down, man," Zwei held up a hand to his ally, "Drake here has had the most experiences when it comes to lost cities so if she says there's a trap then there is, and if there is a way to disarm, then we better listen to her."

"And if she tries to screw with us?"

Eins draws a gun and aims it to the back of Derek's head. "I think she'll get the message clearly."

All eyes suddenly drew onto Cassie as they expected her to give an explanation as to how to get out of this mess. Cassie glared at them, Eins in particular, vowing that once she got the upper hand, she was going to hurt Eins for pointing a gun at _her_ Derek. Anger makes her think irrational but she was a rational person so she pushed that anger to the side and started searching around the elevator for the trap.

She searched around the bookshelves, pulling each book from a place and Heisenberg instructed for several mercenaries to help her out.

_Three mercenaries helping me out, which means that 360 bullets had been cut down 270 at least._

She pulled out all of the books and placed them on the table in the center of the vibrating room. "Well," she pants as she rests her forearms on the tower of thick textbooks, "If there is a trap in here that is activated by the victims, then that means it is hidden in plain sight. If I were you, mercenaries, I'd stay right where you are and don't move unless I instruct you to."

"And if you screw with us?" the same merc asked?

"I think the female mercenary already showed what she was going to do."

She watches her step as she moves back to her original spot and searches the elevator. Her eyes look from left to right, dozens of possibilities running through her mind like cash money thrown in Time Square.

_Hidden in plain sight but the way to getting inside Ys is also hidden in plain sight. What could it be?_

Her eyes look up to where they were supposed lowered from the lab. The cave they walked through was still there on the wall but one thing that she spotted was the position where the mirror was supposed to be. She moves to the opposite end of the lab to get a better look and her suspicion is confirmed.

"Up there," she points, "The mirror that we shined the gold piece with, a new path opened up. We missed it because we've been so focused on waiting for this elevator to go down when the entrance was up there this entire time. That is classic misdirection. It's like those illusions you see on Youtube. There are eight or nine people tossing balls to one another and then you're asked how many black shirts got the ball in contrast to white shirts. You're so focused on the question that your eyes follow the ball around the room that you don't notice the guy in the gorilla walking past the kids."

"Smart," Hesinebrg said, referring to the alchemists.

"Thank you," Cassie said modestly, "I try not to show off too much with my intelligence."

"Climb up there, Drake," Heisenberg ordered, "I know that you're a competent rock climber."

_Great, now I'm his errand girl._

"If you say so," Cassie said casually as she held out her hands like she was doing a dramatic presentation. She touched her hips and noticed that she was missing several things. "I require climbing equipment with me. Preferably my grappling hook and piton that the three ass-lethes took from me."

Heisenberg looked at the Three Mercs and nodded. Drei returned her grappling hook while Zwei tossed her climbing piton.

"Thank you," said politely. She turned towards the wall and subconsciously stretched like a bear lumbering. She arches her back and bends forward.

Drei and Zwei stared at Cassie's butt. Derek felt like passing out. He had this habit of passing out of excitement whenever he saw 'Cassie'. In Iceland, he and Cassie got naked (no sex involved) and he passed out multiple times at the sight of seeing Cassie naked.

Cassie wraps her grappling hook around her belt loop and plants her piton in another loop before she moves towards the wall and starts climbing as soon as her hands found handholds.

"Such a shame," one mercenary said, "The _only_ pretty girl has to leave."

Eins glared at the mercenary. "She's prettier then I am?"

"You're pretty," the mercenary said as he blushed, "But _she_ is beautiful_._"

Eins aimed the gun from the back of Derek's head and over to the mercenary's. He showed no sign of fearing what was about to come. "I have half a brain to kill you right now."

"Where's the other half of your brain?" he asked with a smug smile and made several mercenaries behind him chuckle.

_They're going to end up shooting each other,_ Cassie thought as she climbed up. She noticed that the pressure in her ear was returning to normal as she got closer and closer towards the new path in the wall. Once she reached a place with no handholds, she pulled out her grappling hook and threw it up. It hooked onto a sturdy part in the wall and she used it to climb up. She was about thirty feet below the new path before she started running out of handholds. This is where the piton came into play. She jammed the piton into the wall and climbed up to another handhold. She did this several times before she reached the top and climbed inside the rathole.

"It's a shame she has to sit on something so beautiful," Zwei said to his companion, continuing to admire Cassie's butt.

"Whatever," Drei said, not interested.

"Don't try anything," Heisenberg warned, "We still have Lowell and company in our possession. You have ten minutes to report back and I'm wearing a wristwatch."

"So am I," Cassie shouted down below, "Asshole," she muttered, "You're no Walter White, especially if Harris is supposed to be Jesse."

Cassie moves through the rathole, which was barely big enough for her to fit through one hundred percent.

_I could use this narrow rathole opening to my advantage, especially since only one person can fit through at a time._


	25. Motivation

Cassie crawls, pulling her grappling hook with her and wraps it tightly around her hip. She looked down and spotted Eins putting the gun back to Derek's head.

"We left some grappling equipment in the tomb," Heisenberg reminded, "Toss down our grappling equipment and if you try anything, we'll paint the room with Lowell's brains."

Cassie groaned in annoyance before she took out her grappling hook and threw it towards an exposed beam on the ceiling. She swings across and towards the cave. Once she stumbled into the main room, she spotted the climbing equipment left behind and she dropped it down to the mercenaries.

Cassie swung across the lab and she landed in the rathole once again. She scooted back to let some mercenaries crawl into the rathole. How easy it would be to just kick them over the edge and kill them but Derek was still in their grasps. But, while the mercenaries were still climbing into the rathole, she decided to go exploring ahead without them. It was practical and it would help give her an advantage. She moved forward, crawling on all four before she had to crawl on her stomach. Good, she could use the size of this hole to her advantage as well. Once she reached the end of the rathole, she came out through an opening that was the end of the line.

She takes her first step out of the rathole and into the lost city of Ys.

Ys was a city underwater with walls made of water that Cassie could see leading into the ocean. There were fish swimming as well as sharks. As for the city itself, it looked like some version of Atlantis. There was a castle made of pure gold in the center of the city and the steps were made of bronze. Up above her, was a concentrated light coming from the moon. She made the first step of going down the bronze steps with exercised caution.

"This is Ys?" She took three or four more steps down the bronze set of stairs before she stopped. "I can't believe that we're in a lost city once again. I just wish the circumstances were different." She sits down on a step and sighs with her forearms resting on her knees. "Now this is a beautiful city and I wish that this city won't end up being destroyed in the end but that's the curse that comes with being a Drake."

"I knew you wouldn't mislead us," a familiar voice said. Harris admired the city for a brief second before he put his guard up and stepped down towards Cassie. "Our original goal was to keep you from finding Ys before we did but it turns out, you have a knack for doing all the work for us and staying one step ahead, even though you were five thousand steps behind us. But we do know of your history of destroying lost cities."

_I remember in the journal that there was a snake made of gold that guarded the lost city. That's my ace in the hole, that's the one weapon Vita Longa could not strip me of: Knowledge of this snake guardian._

Cassie stands and turns around to see the rest of the mercenaries. She counted the villains to make sure everyone was there but realized that Derek, Joshua, and Erkin were absent with Eins, Zwei, and Drei.

"Where the hell are the others?" Cassie almost growled. "Where's Derek?"

"We left them," Heisenberg answered, "Insurance."

_Derek...this just motivates me. With the Three Mercs gone, that means there are only sixteen enemies left, including Heisenberg and the named ones._

"Get moving, Cassie," Marcel ordered as he pushed her.

Cassie gets moving against her will, stepping down the bronze stairs and leading the group of mercenaries. She kept looking from left to right, hoping and waiting for this snake guardian to pop up. If they had to go deeper into the city to look for the Philosopher's Stone then so be it.

"Eins, Zwei, Drei," Harris spoke into his radio, "Status update." He waited for the reply but there was nothing but static. "We're out of range," he told Heisenberg.

_Dumbass,_ Cassie mentally said, _I heard you._

"Don't worry," Heisenberg told, sensing Cassie, "I've already prepared a plan because I suspected we'd be out of range for any communicating device."

The group walked down the steps and they watched patiently as they got deeper and deeper into the lost city. They reached the two large front doors of the golden castle and everyone (nobody was left out) pushed open the two doors with all their might. It budged slightly and one by one, they slipped through. Two mercenaries stayed outside on Heisenberg's orders and to make sure that two doors don't close on themselves.

"This place is enormous," one mercenary mentioned, admiring the beautiful interior of the castle.

Everything in the castle was made of pure gold. From the ground to the ceiling to the furniture, even to liquid that was dripping from the ceiling.

"Pick your poison," a second mercenary said.

"How many times do mercenaries like us see lost cities?" another stated.

"Or people in general," Harris corrected.

"Where could the Philosopher's Stone be?" Pavel asked. "Could it be at the top?"

"That would be the idea," Marcel answered, "At the top but if I had half the mind of an alchemist, I would make it difficult for intruders to get it. I would be setting up booby traps."

"That is something that normally comes with the territory," Cassie shrugs as she puts her hands in her pocket, "But it is like I said, the traps are self-activated by the victims and hidden in plain sight."

"And what about the snake guardian?"

Cassie appreciated the fact that she had her head turned from Heisenberg so he and the other mercenaries couldn't see the shock on her face.

_He knows about the snake guardian._

"I don't know what the snake guardian is exactly but I'm assuming it is a metaphor," he continued, picking up a chalice from a table made of gold. "There is a snake symbol on the bottom of this chalice and I noticed another symbol on the back of the table. It's a riddle for us to solve."

Cassie's widening eyes went unnoticed by the army of mercenaries. She smiled mischievously. _They don't know about the snake guardian. Experience has told me that when they mention a mythical creature in any sort of literature, listen without any hesitation._

"I've done these kinds of riddles before," she said, "It usually means that we have to be vigilant and when we solve this riddle, look for the snake guardian. The snake guardian I'm assuming is a series of obstacles that we have to solve in order to get the Philosopher's Stone. You're lucky that I'm still alive otherwise you would've missed this idea."

"Even in death, you'll be valuable," Heisenberg said, "I've heard stories of humans turning into pure gold and dying. You'll literally be a trophy."

"Don't forget," a mercenary shouted, "We get to take whatever we want from Ys as payment."

"Of course," Harris nodded and answered for Heisenberg. "Everything in this lost city will belong to you as soon as we restore Rome to its glorious days."

"You're incorrect, Harris." Heisenberg turned and face his right-hand man. "None of this is about Rome anymore. This is above us."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"There is a civil war going on in Italy. I've been contemplating what to do when I return Rome back to the old days before I realized, I rather that not be the case.

"What the hell are you saying?!"

Heisenberg looked hard at Harris, bending his hands into fists as adrenaline spiked through him. "Vita longa is not returning Italy to Ancient Rome, we will support one side of the Italian Civil War. The Neo-Fascists."

"What are you talking about?" Harris suddenly jumped, "The Neo-Fascists are Mussolini's fascists in modern times. They're the main reason we're trying to restore Rome to its glory. We're fighting for peace within our country and to return Rome to that peaceful state."

"I understand that this is the goal of Vita Longa but I no longer support Vita Longa." He reaches for his hip. "I've been raised by Vita Longa since birth and I was only allowed to want what Vita Longa wanted and when leadership passed down to me to continue with something that I never wanted something in the first place, my eyes were open for the first time: Vita Longa is evil." He paused. "I believe what the Neo-Fascists are doing is good. I believe that Mussolini was the correct leader for Italy and had it not been for Italy collapsing, he never would've existed in the first place all those years ago."

"This mission had never been for Vita Longa's cause for peace, but for your independent desires for a dictator."

"I wish to be the new leader of the Neo-Fascists," he said, "My desire had been to find the Philosopher's Stone using my cult group's prior knowledge and then search for it. Once I obtain the Philosopher's Stone, I'll turn every metal within reach into gold and use it to fund the Neo-Fascists. Then, I would use the power of the stone to become immortal so I can lead the Neo-Fascists forever and never die."

"That's a tall order, not even God can grant it."

Heisenberg turned towards Cassie. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't you understand?" Cassie scoffed, "You claim that Vita Longa is evil for planting goals in your mind but what you don't understand is that you're still evil even when acting on your own behalf. What those fascists monsters did all those years ago was inhumane, they wanted to build an empire with the Nazis of an Aryan race. And another thing that you don't understand is that the Philosopher's Stone doesn't turn you immortal, you'll just have an infinite lifespan but you'll still be able to die. This means that you can't use the stone to revive a corpse but when you get shot, even after achieving life longevity with the stone, you will still die."

He pulled out a gun and aimed it at her skull. "You're not immortal, neither is Lowell."

Harris raised his gun. "Don't kill her."

"Why do you care so much for this girl? Wasn't she your enemy and from what I heard, she knocked you into the ocean."

"I object to cold-blooded killing," he said, "It's people like you that I hate and makes me want to establish the peace that Rome once had. I can't believe it but I'm rooting for Overlord to kill all those Neo-Fascists."

_Overlord,_ Cassie remembered, _Overlord is that global terrorist organization hell-bent on taking over the world as a way of establishing peace. Compared to Heisenberg, Overlord are saviors and I vaguely remember Overlord acting as a third party in the Italian Civil War but they only target Neo-Fascists. The one time I'm grateful for Overlord._

A gunshot went off and Cassie thought she finally met her end but when she looked, she saw blood launch from the back of Harris's head. He collapsed to the ground on his side, his gun sliding out of his hand and towards Marcel's foot.

"If anybody pulls a gun on me one more time," Heisenberg warned with his booming voice to the mercenaries, "I won't hesitate to kill you. Remember, all the gold in here can be yours if you just cooperate."

Marcel and Pavel looked down at their fallen commander. They actually looked sad. Cassie observed them and when Marcel looked up, he spotted Cassie. She scooted back but gave a confused look when Marcel kicked Harris's pistol towards her feet. She picks it up quickly and hides it in her back, nodding gratefully to her former enemy.

Cassie turned to Heisenberg and was about to move but something set off her senses. She felt like something was staring at her from above. There was a drop of sweat that rained down her cheek. With hesitation, she looked up towards the ceiling but couldn't see what it was when there was a rumble behind her.


	26. Snakes

Cassie dared not to look behind her but instinct and human curiosity naturally made her look over her shoulder at the creature. Her head was turned at ninety degrees before she spotted a mercenary in front of her suddenly turned to pure gold from his gun to his assault rifle up to his head.

"Don't look!" Marcel shouted as he averted his eyes. "It's the Basilisk, don't look at it, no matter what!"

The mercenaries shielded their eyes with their forearms. Cassie covered both eyes with her hands.

It was total silence as they felt the snake guardian slither towards them, hissing its forked tongue at its prey. Cassie breathes heavily but controls it to calm her heart rate. It was so tempting to look at the monster because curiosity was getting the better of her but Marcel shouted not to look at the monster.

_Of course, Marcel would know something like this,_ she thought, _He is a genuine member of Vita Longa and he paid attention to the stories he listened to growing up. Marcel kicked me the gun and now he saved me from looking at this snake guardian, which can apparently turn a man into pure gold at the sneer of a glance._

There was hissing in Cassie's ear. Her heart dropped to her stomach and her breathing was hard to control this time. She could only imagine what the creature looked like but from what she recalled from the manuscript, it was made of gold and from what she saw, it could turn a human being into gold if you look into its eyes. "I don't want to become a golden child," she said, "My hair is the right color as it is."

"Marcel, Pavel," Heisenberg shouted, "How do we take this snake down?!"

"You don't get to shoot one of our own and get away with it," Pavel exclaimed, "If you think we're going to help you after that, you are as insane as Walter White."

_While these guys are arguing,_ Cassie said to herself, _I think I'll just slip away while I have the chance._

Cassie steps back and she listens to the sounds of the mercenaries arguing with each other. As long as they were arguing, their eyes were covered and they didn't hear her footsteps. Until Cassie stepped on a fallen chalice. She thought it was over but the mercenaries stopped talking and listened for the sounds of the snakes circling around them.

_I should step away as soon as possible._

The snake came back and started circling her once again. Cassie was so tempted to keep her eyes covered but her first thought was if she opened her eyes and gazed at the unseen snake, she would turn into gold and she'll be nothing more than a trophy for Heisnerberg and she'll never see Derek. She was now glad that Derek wasn't here because his observant nature would've gotten him killed.

She felt something metallic press against her skin and wind blow against her hair. No doubt the snake was studying her and sniffing her out.

_I really want to see what the snake looks like but I will not be a trophy wife._

Luck appeared to be on her side and the snake backed off. She used her heightened senses to determine that it headed back to the group of mercenaries to study them and most likely mark them as prey. She turns around and risks opening her eyes to see the same main hall as earlier. The temptation was growing stronger as she wanted to look at the snake from behind her but her high survival instinct saved her life. Knowing she possessed a large advantage over the villains, she sprinted for the end of the main hall. She heard the snake hissing at her but she knew from what Marcel said that all she had to do was not look at the snake. She runs down the main hall and cuts through a door on the right. She pushes the door open and runs up a large set of stairs, her stamina allowing her to sprint up the stairs without tiring.

She gets to the top of the floor and reaches another hallway. She rushes down it but stops when she comes to a junction. Left or right, she had no idea which way to go. She was going to turn around but she heard the familiar hiss from behind. She covered her eyes with her forearm and stood still.

_How did the snake catch up to me? What did I do to attract it to me?_

She listened carefully to the sound of hiss coming from below near her feet...and then she heard a second set of hisses.

Her eyes almost opened in horror upon realizing that there were several sets of hisses coming from behind.

_There are more snakes? Except, these hisses sound softer like they're coming from a smaller snake but I can hear multiple hisses. This means the mother guards the front entrance while the infants guard for intruders who get past the mother. _

She listened to a concentrated sound of hissing coming from her side, the left path of junction which gives her an idea.

_I'm hearing snakes more so to my left then I am to my right. If I was an alchemist with half a brain, I would leave the Philosopher's Stone in a room full of those golden snakes. And from experience, the lost object is also hidden in the room with most difficulty._

The snakes started slithering away and she could hear it with her keen ears.

_If I follow the snakes, then I might find the room with the Philosopher's Stone but no matter what, I can't look at any of the snakes. This is going to be vastly different then from what I've experienced before._

Cassie followed the sound of the snakes carefully, putting one hand out to make sure she didn't bump into a wall or table. She reached into her pocket and took out a headband. She tied it around her eyes to make things easier.

She spent about ten minutes following the sounds of the snake throughout the castle. She nearly tripped over a bump in the ground once or twice and she had to take very careful steps as she ascended up a set of stairs. The higher she got up the stairs, the more hisses she heard and when she entered through another door. By her calculations, she was on the fifth floor of the tall castle and she could tell that there were a lot more snakes than usual because she heard snakes both left and right in all directions.

_Damn it, how can the snakes guide me now? If I take off my headband and open my eyes, I'm dead. Then again, I can't see which means that I could step on a snake but where am I supposed to go now?_

She decided to chance it and took a very slow step forward, feeling for a snake in her path before she stepped down on the ground. She lifts her other foot and does the same thing. She felt herself touch a snake this time and she almost lost her balance. She carefully planted her foot down on what she assumed was beside the snake and held her stance to keep from losing her balance. Once she knew she was safe, she did the same thing to her previous foot and it was a process for the next five minutes to follow.

When she stepped over another snake, her hearing changed. She suddenly realized that the sound was getting softer behind her. She didn't open her eyes but she dialed her hearing sense up to eleven to confirm her suspension.

_I am moving away from the snakes which means that the path I am taking has no snakes, which means that I am moving away from my destination._

She reaches for the wall with her right hand and touches it. She uses it as a tool to make sure she did a complete one-eighty and started moving back. She listened carefully to the sounds of the snake and she paused when she felt like she was in the middle. She heightened her hearing once more and listened for which path has the most concentration sounds of hissing.

_The hissing on my right seems greater than the hissing on my left. Therefore, I will move to my right._

She turns and carefully steps over the snakes that she couldn't see.

When her senses told her, she raised her right hand up and leaned to her right to touch the wall. A smile cracks upon her face and she moves along the wall to guide her.

_As long as I have the wall and the sounds of hissing to guide me, I should be able to solve this labyrinth with ease and thanks to being blindfolded, keeping my eyes closed will not be a challenge. And if my suspicions are correct, then the room will also be full of snakes, which means I won't be able to see what the Philosopher's Stone looks like. It'll be difficult to destroy something I can't see, especially if it can grant someone immortality at the mere touch of it._

She followed the sound of the hisses and kept her right hand on the wall. Had she known what was in front of her and she didn't have to close her eyes to avoid stepping on snakes, she would've already been at the top of the castle already. She reminded herself that if this is what she had to go through, then the mercenaries she slipped away from had to go through it as well.

_If my calculations are correct, there were nineteen villains in total. The Three Mercs stayed behind with Derek, Joshua, and Erkin, leaving only sixteen villains. Afterward, two mercenaries stayed to guard the front entrance outside the castle. After that, Harris was shot and killed and at least one mercenary turned to gold. In total, I have twelve opponents up against me._

She bumps headfirst into a door.

_Ow._

She opens it up and climbs another set of stairs. She tripped on the first step and landed on her stomach. She couldn't catch herself even if she wanted to because she was forced to be blindfolded.

Her keen sense of hearing did warn her that there was a snake positioned directly in front of her and it hissed at her presence.

Cassie froze as if Madeuca from Greek mythology froze her. Her fingers subconsciously twitched and she licked her lips in nervousness.

_Whatever you do, Cassie, do not open your eyes nor do anything to draw unnecessary attention. Just move calmly and slowly as possible._

Cassie moves slowly and carefully to sit up on her knees and she pushes herself up to her feet. She remembers where the snake is and she puts her left hand to the wall beside her and uses it to guide her upstairs. She moves around the snakes and makes it to the top of the stairs. She was expecting to find another door but she almost lost her balance falling forward. She caught herself by planting her foot in front of her and freezing in place.

She put her free hand down on the ground and felt for another set of stairs. She did the same thing by using the wall.

_Almost there,_ she told herself, mentally counting how many steps she went up, _Just a few more steps, just follow the sounds of snakes._

She steps through the door for reals this time and this time, the hissing was louder than ever. From what she could hear, this hallway was approximately on the seventh floor and it was filled with the most snakes up to date. She put her foot in front of her and felt a snake. She retracted her boot before moving it aside. She nearly lost her balance again when she felt herself about to step on another step. She tried with her left foot but the result was the same.

_You have to be kidding me, there's a snake on every step of the hallway._


	27. Bird Box Challenge

She kept putting her foot out in front and kept expecting something to happen. She kept expecting her foot to find some kind of blind spot with the snakes but the floor may as well have been made of golden snakes. She didn't want to step on the snakes because they could strike at her and she wondered what would happen if she stepped on these snakes and they bit her. She wondered would effects (if any) they would have on her.

"I think I'll just go around." She turned back, using the wall to rotate and she went up the second set of stairs. As she got higher up, she noticed the hissing sound fading. She stopped and went back down. "I have to follow the snakes."

She stood at the door once more and sighed deeply, wondering what to do.

_Assuming that there are snakes on the ground and I don't want them to bite me, what could I do?_

She gets an idea and couches down. The snakes hissing intensified greatly. When she stood up, the hissing returned to normal. That's when she got an idea.

_Could I climb on the ceiling and over the snakes?_

She focuses her hearing above her and hears nothing.

_There are no snakes on the ceiling which means that I can look up._

She lifts her blindfold up. She faces upward and pried her eyelids open, which were barely enough to see the ceiling. She was hesitant to open her eyelids but when she did, she spotted the ceiling made of pure gold as expected from this golden castle. There were golden beams that resembled monkey bars across the ceiling that she could crawl across.

She closed her eyes again and blindly reached for her grappling hook. She spun the end in her wrist and threw the grappling hook with only one eye open. The hook wraps around the beam and yanks it as a precaution. She closes her eyes tightly and climbs up the rope. It was different climbing up the rope when you're forced to keep your eyes closed.

Her left-hand grasps the beam and she tests its strength. She dangles from one hand and pulls herself up before grappling the end of the hook.

_I can't risk opening my eyes because I'm a curious person by nature, which means I'll have to use my grappling hook as a way to guide me across the beams._

Once she's sure the grappling hook is free, she opens her eyes just barely to see the next bar only five feet away and out of arm's reach. She blindly throws the hook and she hits her target. She swings across and pulls herself up again.

_This has got to be the most difficult adventure up to date. I've never had to swing and climb across with both eyes closed._

She felt something fall from her back and she panicked when she realized it was the gun that Marcel kicked towards her. She cringed and almost lost her grip went the pistol discharged. Snakes were hissing angrily.

_Shit, I lost the gun. It's okay, as long as I have my wits, I can survive anything._

She opened her eyes slightly once more and spotted the bar closer this time. No grappling hook needed as she closed her eyes and climbed across the bar as she did with monkey bars when she was a child.

She reached the end of what she could tell. When she opened her eyes, there were no bars for her to climb across. She carefully lowers herself down, keeping her eyes shut and listening for the hissing sounds. She swings her feet out blindly back and forth and she doesn't feel for any snakes. She keeps her guard up as she lowers herself. When she reached the bottom, her foot feels for a solid surface. She sighed in relief and dropped both feet to the ground.

_But now what do I do? Where do I go now that I've passed the snakes?_

She opens her eyes to look at the ceiling. It was still golden but she saw a light shining off the ceiling coming from her front. She did not risk looking down but she could hear more hisses coming from the path in front of her. She followed the direction of the light.

_Should I go back for the gun? No, it's not an option, especially if it landed in the snake pit._

She moved around the snakes on the ground, predicting their positions by instinct and hearing alone. As she moved down the hallway, the light shining on the ceiling was becoming narrow. It eventually turned into a straight line of light shining from something like a flashlight one square inch big.

"Where could this light be coming from? I don't even know where to go at this point."

She bumps into the wall. Her eyes trailed the light and its source was coming from a small opening in the wall that was just below her eye-level.

She pushes herself up on her tippy-toes, put her eye to the opening and…

Pulls away.

_It could be a trap, who knows what could be on the other side._ She looks at the light on the ceiling. _But then again, a light of some kind is shining which means that nothing is blocking the source of the light. Maybe it is safe._

Cassie puts her eye to the opening. Her eyelid was closed but she built enough courage to look into the hole.

From what she could see through the peephole was some kind of pedestal in the middle of a room. She couldn't see inside the room but she knew that this was the end of the line. This is where the Philosopher's Stone was. She closes her eyes after an idea comes to mind. She puts her ear to the wall and listens carefully.

Without a doubt, the room was full of snakes.

_Why did it have to be snakes?_

She moved onto the important question of how she was going to in the room. Her first answer was to look for another door but when she moved to either side of the wall, it leads to nothing more than a dead-end, which made it clear that the only way into the room was to smash through the wall.

She keeps her eyes closed tightly as she blindly charges with all her strength into the wall. It hurt like a bitch but she shrugged off the pain and rammed the wall three more times.

The fourth time was the charm and she cracked the wall and fell right through. She landed on her shoulder, which left a bruise. She hisses, like the snakes she now found herself surrounded by. She freezes in place once again and listens carefully to her environment. Up, down, left, right, front, back, snakes were everywhere and she now realized the severity of her situation if she opened her eyes. She also heard hissing directly in front of her face.

It was a no-staring contest with the snake in front of her. She takes deep breaths and controls her heartbeat. She licks her lips as she mentally pictures the snake studying her like a buffet table of non-gold flesh.

_Back away, slowly…_

She sits up on her knees. She clutches her bruised shoulder before standing up. She almost lost her balance on one side before she regained it. Een as she stood straight up upon the ground, she sensed something was off... the ground.

She crouches back down and reaches out to where she almost lost her balance and feels for nothing as she expected.

"I'm on a stone path that's several feet above the ground," she said, thinking aloud, "And if my theory is correct, then there is a snake pit under the ground." She steps back and touches the cracked wall she crashed through to get her bearings. "This has been the most complicated adventure I've been on. Everything I have to do, it's with my eyes closed or else I turn into gold."

Upon hearing herself, she adjusts her blindfold.

She grabs the end of her grappling hook and hooks it to a sturdy part of the wall. "This will help guide me so I don't steer off course." She grabs the rope tightly."There should be one hissing snake in front of me and as long as I keep straight then I should be able to walk over it."

She steps forward slowly, yanking at the rope to make sure that she was going in one direction. She takes another step and several more before she stops upon hearing hissing. The hissing was violent compared to the other hisses, which were given more as a warning. She hesitated and licked her lips nervously. "This is starting out to be a really lousy day." She lifts her feet high above the ground, knee to her chest. "I'm about fifty feet underground in a golden castle surrounded by a magical wall of water that makes an aquarium look like nothing. Now I'm about to step over a snake that appears to be some kind of the last line of defense. Where does this crazy day end? What're next, zombies that were created by men who've turned to gold?"

She takes one big step over the snake, who almost snarls at her. She almost jumped and lost her balance but remained calm and stayed strong.

She stomped her foot down and quickly did the other, not wasting any time. She cringed slightly at the thought of benign bitten and moved forward. She took approximately five steps forward before she stopped. She tugs onto the rope as a precaution before she reaches out. She starts at the ground and feels for a smooth surface going upwards like a wall. She moves her hand up the smooth surface and her fingers find something. Due to not using one of the five senses in the last thirty minutes, not only has her hearing been heightened but her sense of touch increased as well. It felt like symbols carved into the pedestal that was written from left to right. She touches the edge of the pedestal to her left and moves her hands across to feel for the symbols. Eventually, she recognized one letter and it leads her to recognize another. She slowly and very carefully moved her index and thumb across to feel for the symbols.

"Latin," she said, "Latin is written on the pedestal, same as in the Voynich Manuscript." She moves her fingers across the writing. "What is it saying?"

She deciphered a message after a slow and thorough analysis.

"Ingredients: Mercury, Salt, Sulfur, but what could they mean?" She remembered. "There was a fourth symbol that Derek was unable to recognize." She was building a mental picture of what the Philosopher's Stone could look it, considering that the pedestal in front of her had the stone itself. "I'm actually touching the pedestal of a device that grants immortality and turns all forms of metal into gold."

She moves her fingers upwards towards the pedestal, and when she feels the surface at a horizontal angle, she realized that she was inches away from touching the Philosopher's Stone, and that's when she instantly froze as a new thought crossed her mind.

"If I touch the Philosopher's Stone, then I will become immortal. I can't die of old age but I can still die. My death won't be a peaceful one but would have to be a forced one like jumping off a cliff or getting shot. Sure, immortality does seem like a nice thing but death is a part of human life. If I can't die then life isn't precious. Besides, I won't be able to go see Sully in Heaven or Mom and Dad when they die. Derek will die and I'll still be on this earth, unable to die of natural causes." She quickly took her hand back and away from the pedestal. "It's best not to know when your life is about to end, that way you can live your life to fullest, the infinite every day. Besides, who says I won't be immortal? Cassie Drake: Legendary Treasure Hunter, Arceahologist, and Adventurer. Discoverer of the Philosopher's Stone and the Lost City of Ys."


	28. Plan

"You found it."

Cassie froze in place, recognizing the voice. She didn't open her eyes even with the blindfold but the hearing was all she needed. "How did you get up here so fast?" she asked. She clutched tighter on the rope.

"We shot the snakes and they scattered. The big one was the most difficult one to take out."

_They shot at the snakes to scare them away? How come I didn't hear any gunshots?_

"Were you using suppressors?" she asked to confirm her suspicions.

"Bingo," Heisenberg said with a cheerful voice.

"How did you follow me?"

"We heard a gun go off and we followed it."

_It must be from the gun I dropped and went off when it hit the ground. Damn it._

"I can't see you but I do know where you're at. I can feel the rope." He proves his point by smacking the rope as hard as he could, creating a vibration like when a fly gets trapped in a spider's web. "I can already tell that you are standing near the pedestal where the stone is."

_Damn, he even knows my position._

A plan hatched into her head.

_I have an idea, I think I have a plan to take out Heisenberg once and for all. It's going to be tricky but it's the only shot I have at surviving and not letting Heisenberg get his hands on the stone._

"Grab the stone for me," he ordered, "And don't try and trick me; I know that you're a strategist."

_I'll cast the line and see if he'll go for the bait._

"Heisenberg, if I touch the Philosopher's Stone, then I will become immortal."

"If that's the case," he reached down and unsnapped his hip holster to his pistol. "Then I'll just kill you afterward."

_I was expecting him to say something like that,_ Cassie smiled.

"Heisenberg, I'm a slippery one, which means that once I touch the stone, there's a high chance that I'll escape."

_What is she up to?_ Heisenberg wondered, _Is she really that sly?_

"In that case, I should just kill you and get it over with." He drew his gun.

_He's drawing his gun, I've got to move on with the plan if I want it to work._

"You can't open your eyes because the snakes will turn you into gold so how can you shoot me without shooting the Philosopher's Stone?"

_She does have a point,_ he thought, _If I'm shooting blindly, I could destroy the very thing I came here for._

"If you want the Philosopher's Stone, you're going to have to get it yourself."

_What is she up to? Is she really that sly?_

He turned his head over his shoulder. "Giovanni, Luciano, restrain Cassie."

_There's mercenaries with him, this makes things more complicated. I have to be careful. Best case scenario: Giovanni and Lucianao are the only mercenaries with him._

"Wrap the end of your grappling hook around the pedestal so I know where to go."

Cassie does as she is told and makes sure the end of her hook is wrapped _tightly_ around the pedestal.

"Walk forward using the rope as a guide."

"I know how to walk."

She slowly walks forward, remembering that there was a snake in front of her. "There's a snake in front of us."

Heisenberg takes out his gun, and shoots at the ground in front of him. He hears the startled hissing of a snake that fell into the pit below them.

"Your welcome," he said as he holstered his gun.

_That's right, he has a suppressor. I can use that to my advantage._

Cassie and Heisenberg met halfway at the rope. Cassie bumps into him, her hands going to his waist area. He pushes her behind him and she freezes.

_I did it...I got it!_

She climbs the rest of the way back to the entrance, where she was expecting there to be at least two mercenaries waiting for her.

She raises her gun and pauses at the hole. She listens carefully for the two mercenaries to unsnap the holsters to their guns and she uses these sounds to determine where they were standing.

She blindly aimed to her left and fired off three suppressed shots. She heard the mercenary on her right gasp and she quickly shot him. Both men tumbled onto the ground and made a loud thud as they did.

Heisenberg reaches the end of the rope. He grasps around the pedestal and feels up for the top.

Cassie quickly climbed out of the hole and once she was clear, she listened for more sounds of mercenaries. There were none. She turned and clutched the rope as a way of aiming.

A bullet tore through Heisenberg's chest and hit the Philosopher's Stone off the pedestal and into the snake pit. He yells in agony and blindly reaches for his gun to find it gone.

Cassie fired two more times, emptying the last two bullets into both shoulders. Upon hearing the infamous click, she grabs the grappling hook and yanks with all her might. The end was tied to the pedestal so it went falling forward and crushed Heisenberg's leg.

He screams in pain.

_It worked!_

"Help!" Heisenberg called out.

_Everything went according to plan. My plan: Convince Heisenberg to reach for the Philosopher's Stone itself, get him to unsnap his hip holster so I can pickpocket his gun from him. Then, I would kill the remaining mercenaries and shoot Heisenberg. If I ran out of bullets, I would yank at the end of the grappling hook and pull the pedestal over. By my calculations, the stone would fall into the snake pit while Heisenberg would either fall in with it or die from his gunshot wounds._

She heard him screaming.

_Judging by the sounds of his screaming, he survived the gunshot wounds but is in agony. Did the pedestal crush him or something? He's calling for help._ A possible scenario occurred to her. _Oh shit, what if he did indeed touch the stone and is now immortal? If that were the case, then why is he screaming? I've heard that the Philosopher's Stone could heal wounds but not grant complete immortality._

He screamed again.

_He's screaming in agony, meaning that he really is hurt and that his wounds aren't healing. I've shot him three times at least and I think I crushed him under the pedestal so he'll be bleeding out. I don't have to worry about the Philosopher's Stone because, by my calculations, it's already in the snake pit._

He turns around, taking her grappling hook back by yanking it off the pedestal with all her might. She placed it back at her hip and turned to leave.

"See you later, Heisenberg," Cassie said loud for Heisenberg to hear. "Like Walter White, you'll die surrounded by the one thing you love."

Heisenberg nearly lost consciousness from blood loss and made the fatal mistake of opening his eyes, forever becoming a trophy and a meal for the golden snakes.

Cassie had nothing but her memory to rely on. She kept her eyes on the ceiling but rolled to the back of her skull. When she reached the end of the hallway, she saw the monkey bars and swung across as she did previously. She then remembered hearing the mercenaries say something about scaring off the snakes but she didn't want to take any chances. She reaches the end and leaps towards the doorway. She made haste down the stairs and nearly slipped. She still lost her balance and went falling forward and she hit her face against the wall.

"Ow," she exclaimed, "What does it take for a girl to stop bumping into things?"

She rushed down the rest of the stairs but stopped when she remembered the snake she landed in front of. She heard the infamous hissing and froze. She remembered what happened last time and walked around the snake. Then came the room with the snakes placed evenly around the room. She bounces up and over the snakes.

She reached the hallway where she had to follow the snakes and she ran in the opposite direction. She risked opening her eyes only to see if the door she came through was still there and much to her luck, it was.

She ran down the stairs that led to the first floor and she froze in place when she realized that this is where she left the mercenaries and the queen of snakes.

She blocked both eyes with both hands, even with the blindfold, and listened carefully to the sound of the queen snakes hissing at her. She could feel the snake nearing her head and eyes directly on hers. She could feel the snake lick its tongue on Cassie's forehead but other than that it did nothing more than hiss in her ear. It was getting harder and harder for Cassie to keep her eyes shut; the temptation to look was getting stronger and stronger. It was almost painful.

She slowly moved to the side, one foot to the left followed the second as she sidesteps the snake. She imagined that it was over but a loud noise startled her into almost opening her eyes. She felt an explosion and the heat rose up to her face and nearly burned her eyebrows out. She blindly ran off but tripped over something and fell. She caught herself on her elbows (painfully) and continued running after she picked herself up.

She runs forward and suddenly bends forward upon feeling herself connect to a table. Her stomach felt like someone kicked her and she groaned. She just moves around the table while keeping her hands on the table.

When she reached the end, there was a vibration that ran throughout the ground that made her fall to the ground once more. The vibrating ground became violent, shaking hard like an earthquake.

"What the hell is going on?!" she exclaimed.

"I did that."

_Derek…_

"They're all dead, Drake."

_That's not Derek, but with that French accent...it has to be-_

"It's me, Marcel."

Cassie opened her eyes slightly and saw the front of a man's boots inches from her face. Her eyes drew up and gazed at the cultists as he looked down at her. He had an RPG-7 with him and he dropped to the ground in exhaustion. His left shoulder had a gunshot wound in it and he was pressing his right hand to it to apply pressure.

"I'm going to die regardless," he said calmly and panted, "As long as you don't look at the snake's eyes, you'll be fine. You don't have to keep them closed."

Cassie was about to say something but the ground shook once more and she heard the cries of the snake creature behind her.

"I hit a vital spot in the snake with an RPG-7," he said as he looked up towards the snake. His eyes were pointed downward so they weren't looking directly at the snake. "I've studied this creature during my time growing up. It's a mythical creature known as the Basilisk. It can turn you into gold with a single glance as you may have guessed. It was created by the alchemists as a last line of defense with infant snakes at the top. Only sorcerers have an immunity to it because they used a special kind of magic as a shield for the eyes. Even so, the snakes do have a backup plan in case they can't take out the trespassers. One, they can bite you and turn you into gold and two, spending prolonged time around the snakes will result in the same thing. I've hit a vital spot so it should be bleeding sand in a few minutes."

He turns ducks down and holds a hand for Cassie to grab. "I promise that I will get you out of here."

"How did you get a gunshot wound on your shoulder?"

"One of the mercenaries got hysterical and started firing blindly at the snake. He ended up hitting me as a result. My friend, Pavel, got hurt. He got bit by the big snake and turned into gold right before my eyes."

Cassie grabs his hand.

"You are no longer my enemy," Marcel stated, "I am the last living member of Vita Longa. Once I die from blood loss, Vita Longa will be no more." He collapses to his feet.

Cassie helped him up and put his arm over his shoulder. "We'll get out of here together."

"Then," Marcel began, "I'll give the order to the Three Mercs to release your friends."

_I'm just glad Derek and the others didn't have to get involved in this._

"That sounds like a plan."

A pillar in front of them collapsed, nearly crushing the two in the process.

_And just like that, history repeats itself._


	29. Bleeding Sand

Cassie carried Marcel out through the front door and they shut it behind them. Marcel collapsed to the ground once again and Cassie and he fell headfirst to the ground.

"We'll get out of here," Cassie told him. She kneels and checks his shoulder wound. She rolls him over on his side and discovers another wound in his stomach. This wound was larger than his shoulder wound and it was creating a pool of blood. "Your wound is severe, we'll need a medic."

"I'm going to die," Marcel told, "I fully expect that. I have nothing to live for."

The city shakes again as a reminder that the city was on the verge of collapsing.

"I should at least get you out of here." She picked up Marcel and dragged him away from the city. She reached the stairs that were placed in front of the rathole. She dragged him all the way up the stairs but just as she was about to crawl through, Marcel collapsed once more.

He clutches his stomach in pain and groans in discomfort. "It hurts," he cried, clutching his stomach like he was trying to push his falling organs back in.

"Once we get out of here, the Three Mercs could take you to the hospital."

Marcel sat up against the wall and put a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "I had no intention of escaping the city. I only wanted to get within range so I could talk with the Mercs on my radio." He reaches with his bloody hand to grab his walkie-talkie and presses the transmit button. "Three Mercs, if you can hear me, let the hostages go."

"What?" a voice came back immediately but Marcel was too exhausted to recognize it. "Let them go?"

"We lost," Marcel choked, "Drake is no longer important nor is she a threat. You are to release her allies."

"What about our money?"

"You're insured."

The voice started bickering about something but Marcel dropped the walkie-talkie and it fell down the stairs. Cassie quickly grabs it before it is out of reach.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?" the voice said with a hint of sadism, "Is this Cassie Drake?"

"Let Derek and my friends go," she demanded, "Marcel ordered their release."

"Where's Harris?"

"Heisenberg killed him."

"And where's Heisenberg?"

"I killed him."

"And Pavel?"

Cassie couldn't recall which one was Pavel. "He's dead as well."

Marcel choked upon hearing Pavel's name.

"And our fellow mercenaries?"

"Every single one of them is dead." She knew this for a fact.

"So Marcel is the last one?"

_Oh my god, that's what I've been saying this entire time!_ "Yes."

"Okay…" the voice hesitated, "I guess we can work with that. Put Marcel back on the phone."

_It's a walkie-talkie!_

She tossed the radio into his lap. Marcel picked up the radio and said, "What do you want?"

"What's happening to the Philosopher's Stone and Ys?"

"They're both gone. I'm not going to make it. Remember, you are to release Drake and the others alive. If you kill them, I'll crawl out of the grave and kill you myself."

The mercenary was arguing once again but Marcel switched channels to silence the voice. He touched his stomach wound and studied the blood that coated his hand. He couldn't stand the sight of blood, he was always afraid of blood, even as a kid. Growing up, his parents, acolytes of Vita Longa, had a disguise in life as doctors, surgeons. They couldn't get a babysitter in time so they brought little Marcel to the hospital and he got curious and snuck a peek at his parents performing an appendectomy. He passed out immediately and he actually had to stay in the hospital to recover.

Blood was his biggest fear in life and even when he killed people during his time in the armed forces, he couldn't look at the blood. That's why he became a sniper; so he could stay away from the blood-spatter.

"I can't stand blood," he said to himself, his vision starting to blur. He looks towards Cassie with half-shut eyes and he points to his right. "Get out of here, the city is collapsing."

"I can still get you through," she said.

"No," he argued, "I want to die here. It was Vita Longa's goal to find Ys and I want to die in Ys."

He shoved her away when she put a hand on his shoulder. "GO!"

Cassie hesitated before she dived through the rathole.

Marcel watched the castle begin to collapse from the bottom than at the top. It leaned towards the right and the top hit the wall of water and caused the ocean to flood into the city and break the barrier.

Water began rising up the stairs where Marcel sat. His vision was getting blurrier by the second but with all his strength, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of him and the one person he loved.

"I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you how much I loved you." He stroked his crush softly.

His eyes close.

_I'm sorry, Pav-_

…

…

_... _

* * *

Cassie reached the end of the rathole and remembered that she had to swing across, used her grappling hook to achieve this, and barely reached the end of the lab.

She ran through the cave just as a tsunami flooded the lab with water and the city of Ys became a lost city permanently, sunken into the ocean as the myths said.

She reached the end of the cave and just barely made it out of the way as the ceiling collapsed and water seeped through the cracks of the debris.

"That was fun," she panted, "I should do this more often."

She collapsed to the ground after feeling something hammer in the back of her head.

"Did you forget about us?" Drei voice yelled through the tomb, "I'm insulted." He cocks his pistol and plants it to Cassie's temple.

"Don't think about it, Carter," Zwei raised his hand, "We have our orders to let Drake and the others go."

"We still have time to play around with these pathetic freaks for a while," Carter - Drei - reasoned, "I mean, I have no intention of killing her but I have to get back at her for drowning me in the fountain."

Zwei got angry. He shot a glare at Carter and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "That's enough," he growled, "Our job is done and I'm ordering you, as your big brother, to stop this ridiculousness."

_Big brother, _Cassie noted, _They're siblings?_

"Have many times have I had to say it, Beck?" he growled, "Don't patronize me just because I'm your little brother."

Both of their heads were hit from behind and left bruises. It was from Eins.

"Alice," Carter and Beck said, "WHY?"

_The thief from the museum is named Alice?_

"As the big sister to both of you, shut up!" She shouted in their ears and rubbed at their bruised heads. "We're leaving, we're already insured." She pushes both her younger brothers by the shoulders before offering a hand to the downed Cassie. "Call this redemption for attacking you in the museum."

Cassie grabbed her arm and remembered that these three mercenaries managed to outwit and outclass her. It was no use in trying to fight back, only to stay on their good sides.

"You guys make quite the sibling team," she said, hoping that flattery would do. "I'm curious as to where Derek and the others are."

Alice nodded in one direction. "They're in the van outside."

The three siblings escorted Cassie to the van outside the tomb where Beck and Carter opened the back to reveal the tied up friends inside.

The first person Cassie saw was Derek. Cassie smiled at the sight of her friend and she quickly grabbed at the gag in his mouth and free him.

"I'm glad you're still alive for me," she said, "It would've been lonely without you."

Derek was freed of his hogties.

Alice, Beck, and Carter stayed behind and watched Cassie free her friends. They whispered amongst each other.

"What are we going to do now?" Beck asked his older sister, "Our job is done so we have nothing to do."

"We just go back to our regular lives," Alice answered, "Go back to living life as civilians with the money we do have."

"We should split the profits," Beck suggested, "Carter and I get twenty-five percent while you get fifty."

"Are we supposed to just ignore Cassie Drake?" Carter asked, "They are our enemies after all."

"Enemies by mercenary's job," Alice reminded.

"I can hear you," Cassie said after she finished freeing Erkin and Joshua, "Since we're no longer enemies, let's just leave each other be."

The three siblings studied Cassie with caution. The three of them had glares on their faces with teeth showing. They tilted their head like dogs before the three nodded at the same time.

_What's going on in their head?_ She wondered.

"Again," Alice began, "I'm sorry about breaking into the museum and beating you to a pulp."

"I could've beaten you any day," Cassie rebutted.


	30. Epilogue

Alice spoke into her walkie-talkie. "567721, calling in with 567722 and 567723 on the line."

A voice responded back.

"Did we acquire the Stone?" Alice dropped her head with a sigh. "Negative, Alpha took care of it."

The voice replied.

"No, neither did Alpha, Bravo nor did Vita Longa saw through our deception. We have proven ourselves that we are capable, my Leader."

The Leader spoke again.

Beck joined the chat. "567722 to Leader, what are our orders?"

Carter spoke. "Query for 567723: Do we kill Alpha?"

The answer came through for all of them.

"Yes, our Leader," the three of them said.

The walkie-talkies went dead.

Alice turned to her siblings. "At least our Leader isn't mad at us."

"Who would've known," Beck said, "That Overlord was working behind the scenes this entire time."

"It was fun to play the puppet master," Carter said. "We infiltrated Vita Longa and lied played with Cassie Drake all whilst keeping our identities as Overlord spies a secret."

"It is amusing," Alica agreed, "But as long as our plan succeeded, then that is all that matters."

"Right," Beck said, "Our Leader anticipated that Cassie might be successful in intervening so our Leader gave us our own objective to complete: Ensure the downfall of Vita Longa."

"That's right," Cassie said, "If Overlord can't have the Philosopher's Stone, then no one can have the Philosopher's Stone."

"And Cassie did all the work for us," Alice said with a grin, "I am beginning to understand our Leader's interest in Cassie Drake."

Her brothers smiled.

"Seriously," she switched off her serious tone, "I really need a vacation."

"So do we," Beck and Carter said.

"Also," Beck began, "Can we spend the night at your house? I want to spend time with my nephew."

Carter held up a hand. "Same here."

* * *

One Day Later

It has been thirty-six hours since the climax of their Ys adventure. The quartet of adventurers was in Paris at the same coffee shop that Cassie was chased from. This time, there were no mercenaries or acolyte members watching over them. The Three Mercs - Alice, Beck, Carter - handed the Voynich Manuscript back over to the fortune hunters when they realized that they were the only surviving members of the cult and they were mercenaries so they had no business with the Voynich Manuscript.

Cassie sipped her coffee as she asked, "What was your favorite part of this adventure?"

Joshua scratched the back of his head to come up with an answer. "I don't know if I can properly comment. I didn't go to any tombs and I didn't even get to see the lost city. Erkin got to go to Atlantis a couple of years ago and he went inside the Tomb in Germany. I barely did anything."

"This is real life, not a TV show," she rebutted.

"Easy for you to say," he shot back, "You've been inside every tomb and you got to see the lost city and the Philosopher's Stone. The only one out of us four."

"I vouch for Joshua," Erkin said, "I barely had action time. I barely held out my own with that guy on the boat and I had to be saved by Derek. At least he got an action scene."

"Just to let you guys know, I only got inside _one_ tomb," Derek said, "I mean after we got separated, I barely got to explore the tomb or see the tomb."

Cassie shook her head, "I don't think you guys would've wanted that to be the case. The snake guardian was made of pure gold and if you looked into its eyes then it would turn you into gold. Derek, you are too wide-eye to survive this encounter, Erkin, you are physically weak. Joshua…" she couldn't think of something to say, "You probably could've survived."

Joshua felt complimented.

Derek spoke up. "Did you at lease _see_ the Philosopher's Stone or at the very least, touch it?"

"Nope, it's like what I said." She stated everything again for the third time. "That's why I couldn't touch the Philosopher's Stone unless I desired immortality."

"And are you sure that the stone was destroyed?"

"It was destroyed when Ys sank into the ocean forever. There's also no way that Heisenberg could've survived as well. He still would've drowned and I'm pretty sure that the snakes still would've turned him to gold."

"What about the fourth element?" Derek asked upon recalling the four symbols. "What is the fourth element?"

"There was salt, sulfur, and mercy, then the finale: Sand."

"How did you deduce that it was sand?"

"Think of it like this." She holds up her coffee cup. "There are four things needed to make a cup of coffee. You need sugar, coffee beans, creamer, and a cup to hold it. The first ingredient is salt and then sulfur, which had been added as the two main elements with mercury used as a sweetener you could say. And as for the fourth symbol, I noticed it too late."

She paused. "The golden snake, also known as the Basilisk, was shot by a rocket launcher by Marcel. The first thing that happened was that it put up a fight but there is one thing I remember Marcel saying: It's bleeding sand. That's where I came up with the idea that sand is the fourth element. The gold on the snake is not actually gold but sand that had been hardened by the salt, sulfur, and mercury ingredients. The sand is the cup of the snake's skin."

"Then how does the snake turn people into gold by a sneer glance?"

Cassie had been pondering this question ever since she escaped the lost city but she couldn't come up with a logical explanation. The best she could was that it was some kind of spell that the alchemists cast upon the snakes. Anybody with half a brain could figure that it is impossible to turn a human being into gold by a mere glance so they had to abandon the natural route and just go with the supernatural explanation.

"Magic."

"I don't believe in magic," Joshua said, "I would believe in magic if I could but all of this is just science. I mean, I didn't see any supernatural power."

"To each their own," Derek cocked his head, "Cassie and I have our experiences with the supernatural. Either way, it doesn't matter."

"But now that the adventure is over, what are you guys doing now?"

Cassie rubbed her forehead in circles as she wondered what would happen next. She licked her lips as she widens brightened in anticipation. "I'm going on a nice long-earned vacation. Somewhere warmer than Hawaii and cozier then the college dorm I sleep in. I'm going to spend one week at a spa and dive at a beach with warm waters. One week all by myself."

"Seems like you've got your next few weeks planned out," Joshua nodded.

"Sounds like that was planned to a T," Erkin noted, "You sure that wasn't your plan from the beginning?"

"I'm sure," she said and hid her smirk with her sipping coffee.

_Actually, my ideal vacation is just hanging out with Derek. That's what I've always wanted, just to hang out with Derek but I think I have a habit of bringing danger to him. I still haven't forgotten what happened in Italy and how I felt. The guilt still gets to me and as much as I want to spend all my time with Derek, I think he would be better off without me._

"What are you thinking, Cassie?" Derek asked, his perspective nature drawing him to her.

_Damn it, was I thinking aloud? Damn you, Derek, and your observation skills._

Then again, while Derek was hawk-eyed, Cassie was quick-witted.

"Thinking where to go that would be perfect based on the whether. It is February after all."

_Is that what you were really thinking?_ He wondered. _I guess I'll never know._

_Man,_ Cassie smirked, _I have quite the life. I mean, I'm a legendary treasure hunter, I've got a diverse set of friends, and I'm the descendant of Sir Francis Drake. I have feelings for Derek and I can't express them. I've made so many enemies that I lost count. I've destroyed so many lost cities that I'm more of a graverobber then archeologist. Mom and Dad warned me about this life and I only have one thing to say to that: They were wrong. I love this life. I love the thrill of risks, I like that my life is in danger. Call me crazy, call me an adrenaline junkie but I was never destined for a normal life. This is my normal life and I love every bit of them._

Subconsciously, her hand was on Derek's but neither one bothered to mention it.

The End of Chapter 8

* * *

**And that does it for the third entry of Cassie Drake's adventures. I already have plans for the fourth entry so keep a close eye out for new publishes. Also, I intend for the fourth Uncharted installment to be drastically different from the previous fanfics and games.**


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